Sunday, November 01, 2009
Wisconsin prison officials are being sued by the Associated Press for refusing to release a video of a guard subduing a prisoner with a grenade. Inmate Raynard Jackson was subjected to a stinger grenade, which sprays 180 rubber pellets, inside his cell after he became unruly with guards who wanted to strip search him.
The 2005 incident at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility in Boscobel was filmed by one of the prison guards using a handheld camera, and it is that footage that the AP wants to review. Department of Corrections officials refused to comply with AP’s request, claiming releasing the tape would expose the limitations of the prison’s surveillance camera system—even though the footage was not shot using a surveillance camera.
Jackson sued the state after the grenade incident, which damaged his hearing. The matter was settled out of court for $49,000.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
AP Files Lawsuit Over Video of Grenade Detonation (by Scott Bauer, Associated Press)
AP Wants Video of Grenade Detonation (Courthouse News Service)
Associated Press v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections (Courthouse News Service) (PDF)
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