We treat dogs better than this, ...I am ashamed.

Jose Padilla, 21st century America's version of Josef K.


Not too long ago I read something about Jose Padilla having been held for three years--it's been three years already--in solitary confinement and thought, fuck. I wonder if he's still sane.

Apparently not.

Warning: reading this literally made me feel queasy, which doesn't happen very often.

According to prosecutors,

His basic needs were met in a conscientious manner, including Halal (Muslim acceptable) food, clothing, sleep and daily medical assessment and treatment when necessary.

Not even for animals are "food, clothing, sleep and medical treatment" sufficient treatment. Fish, maybe. Bugs. But most mammals require more than that. Even PK's mice require companions. Social isolation in mice has been shown to cause aggression, despair-like immobility, and immune system and heart damage, among other things.

Now, imagine the effect of doing this to a man. For over three years.

Mr. Padilla was held alone in a 10-cell wing of the brig; that he had little human contact other than with his interrogators; that his cell was electronically monitored and his meals were passed to him through a slot in the door; that windows were blackened, and there was no clock or calendar; and that he slept on a steel platform after a foam mattress was taken from him, along with his copy of the Koran. . . .

Don't skim over his deprivation of the Koran too quickly. It's surely the only thing he had to read or look at, his only contact with human language other than orders or hostile questions.

When he leaves his cell (for a root canal), he has

noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes.

Apparently one of his lawyers

"was told by members of the brig staff that Mr. Padilla’s temperament was so docile and inactive that his behavior was like that of ‘a piece of furniture.’ ”

He also

"remains unsure if I and the other attorneys working on his case are actually his attorneys or another component of the government’s interrogation scheme.”



Bluntly, at this point, Padilla has been destroyed. His case will be written into textbooks in a decade's time, and hopefully students will learn from it. Practically speaking, any hope Jose Padilla had for due process (Fifth Amendment), a fair and speedy trial or adequate legal representation (Sixth Amendment), or freedom from cruel or unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment) disappeared a long time ago. Whatever the outcome of his situation is--and I do hope that ultimately the man regains his freedom, given that the government has not charged him with anything they supposedly retained him for--effectively the only hope left is that we'll learn something from having literally used all the power of the government to ruin a man without so much as charging him with a crime.

Padilla, if anyone needs reminding, is an American citizen. He has not been convicted of anything.

I truly wouldn't do that to a dog.

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This is JUST plain wrong, we as Americans used to be better than this.

He IS still an American citizen, and deserves to be treated like one.

Charles Manson receives much better treatment, John Gotti did also.

John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Henry Louis Wallace, Jerry Brudos, Henry Lee Lucas, Robert Spangler, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Muhammad, John Lee Malvo, Richard Angelo, Dennis Rader, Gary Ridgway, Albert Fish, Eddie Gein, Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, all recieve better treatment both BEFORE they were convicted, and after.... even ON death row.

America USED to be better than this.

And Remember he has never been convicted of anything connected with any charges based on What he was arrested for.

What happened to innocent until proven guilty, and the US Constitution?