Extreme conditions of detention have taken their toll on detainees. A man interviewed by Human Rights Watch after being kept in solitary confinement for more than three months appeared to have memory problems. said he could not sleep for the first two months, and that he was depressed." Another detainee said he was going "crazy" while in isolation. These reactions to prolonged isolation are not uncommon Psychiatrists say that some detainees who are held in solitary confinement for long periods may suffer from memory loss, severe anxicty, hallucinations, and delusions 22

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A Human Rights Watch report on conditions at super-maximum security prisons concluded that prisoners subjected to prolonged isolation may experience depression, despair, anxiety, rage, claustrophobia, hallucinations, problems with impulse control, and/or an impaired ability to think, concentrate, or remember The report also asserted that some inmates held in isolation develop clinical symptoms usually associated with psychosis or severe affective disorders. Human Rights Watch. "Out of Sight: Maximum Security Confinement in the United States," A Humem Rights Watch Report, vol. 12, no. 1(G) February 2000. p. 2. Scc also, Human Rights Watch, Cold Storage: Super-Maximum Security Confinement in Inchana. (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1997), pp 62-74.

For reports on this issue from other sources, see, for instance, Angie Hougas. "Psychological Death Row. Supermaximum Security Prisons, Sensory Depriva

Physical and Verbal Abuse

Several non-citizens detained in connection with the investigation of the September 11 attacks have alleged that law enforcement officials or correctional staff physically and verbally abused them while in custody. It is impossible to know, however, how prevalent the mistreatment of detainees has been due to lack of access to them and the secrecy that has shrouded the investigation Human Rights Watch has documented two cases of physical abuse by public officials and three cases by criminal inmates where authorities failed to prevent the aggression or act to stop it. Three other detainees have alleged in two pending lawsuits filed against the US government that officials beat them. In addition, a third of the detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had suffered verbal abuse from correctional officers and/or criminal inmates.

Cases of alleged physical abuse committed by law enforcement agents or jail staff include the following

tion and Effects of Solitary Confinement," October 2001, found at Amnesty International Chapter 139's website at

http://danenet.danenet org/amnesty/supermax html; "Profile: Dispute over the effects of solitary confinement in Supermax prisons on inmates," NPR's Weekly Edition, January 8, 2000; James Patterson, "The Effects of Physical Isolation," Indianapolis News, January 16, 1999; and "Trend Toward Solitary Confinement Worrics Experts." CNN January 9, 1998.

29 The US. press reported allegations of verbal and physical abuse in some other cases. See, for instance, the case of Mohammed Maddy, who sustained a bruise on his upper right arm allegedly inflicted by correctional officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn Graham Rayman, Kennedy Ticket Agent Arrested." Newsweek.com. October 5. 2001, and Al-Badr Al-Hazmi, who claimed he was kicked on his back by a correctional officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. as reported by Deborah Sontag. "Who is This Kafka That People Keep Mentioning?" New York Times Magazine, October 21, 2001. See also. Anne-Marie Cusac, "IITreatment on Our Shores," The Progressive, March 2002, and Richard A. Serrano, "Many Held in Terror Probe Report Rights Being Abused." Los Angeles Times, October 15, 2001.

Tony Oulai, the citizen of the Ivory Coast. whose case is described above, told Human Rights Watch that interrogators beat him while he was detained in Baker County Detention Center, Flonda Oulai was alone in an unlit cell that had a bed but no sheets or blankets after midnight on September 17, 2001, when two men wearing jeans and tshirts, and no identification or badges opened his cell They put handcuffs and shackles on him, and took him to another cell for interrogation. They asked him if he was a Muslim and if he was from an Islamic country He replied "no" to cach question Oulai said that one of the interrogators hit him from behind He fell on the floor and curled up to protect himself. One of the men put a foot on Oulai's neck, while the other one hit him on the back and in the face repeatedly. "I was begging for my life," said Oulai He estimated that the beating took

less than an hour.

Blooding from his nose, mouth, and cars. Oulai was then taken by the two men to a cell where there was an Egyptian detaince. Oulai said he could not talk and he fell asleep. In the morning he gave his sister's name to the Egyptian man and asked him to call her. He complained to jail officers but said they told him, "They are going to take care of you where you're going" Oulai was then transferred to Bradenton Federal Detention Center in Manatee County,

A lawsuit against the government described instances of abuse Asif-ur-Rehman Saffi, a Pakistan-born French citizen. claimed he suffered at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in New York

Human Rights Watch interview with Tony Oulai. Alexandria City Jail, Virginia, February 9, 2002. Oulai was arrested on September 14, 2001 and charged with overstaying his visa. Instead of being deported as an immigration judge had ordered he was then held as a material witness, and when the material witness warrant was dismissed, he was charged with Iving to federal agents the day of his arrest about whether he was living legally in the United States.

At MDC. Mr. Saffi was dragged roughly from the van into the building. On the way, his face was slammed into several walls [Correctional officers] bent back his thumbs, stepped on his bare fect with their shoes, and pushed him into a wall so hard that he fainted. After Mr. Saffi fell to the floor, they kicked him in the face. The lieutenant in charge

called Mr. Saffi a terronst, boasting that Mr Saffi would be treated harshly because of his involvement in the September 11 terrorist attacks and threatening to punish him if he ever smiled [Correctional officers] swore at him, belittled and insulted his religion, and degraded him They called him a religious fanatic and a terrorist

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Another plaintiff in the same lawsuit, Syed Amjad Ali Jaffri, a citizen of Pakistan, also claimed he was physically and verbally abused by correctional officers at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

One correctional officer, in the presence of [other officers]. told [Jaffri]. Whether you [participated in the September 11th terrorist attacks] or not, if the FBI arrested you, that's good enough for me. I'm going to do to you what you did." The [correctional officer] then slammed Mr. Jaffn's head into a wall, severely loosening his lower front teeth and causing him extreme pain. Mr Jaffri felt pain and discomfort from that injury throughout his stay at MDC. He was never, however, allowed to see a dentist

Osama Awadallah, a lawful permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Jordan, maintained that he was mistreated at various detention facilitics while he was being held as a material witness. 257 His allegations are included in a statement his attorney filed with the court on his behalf.

The guards (at the San Berardino County jail, California] forced |Awadallah to strip naked before a female officcr. At one point, an officer twisted his arm, forced him to bow and pushed his face to the floor. The government transferred Awadallah to a federal facility in Oklahoma City on September 28. While in Oklahoma, a guard threw shoes at his head and face, cursed at him and made insulting remarks about his religion...

On October 1, 2001. Awadallah was shackled in leg irons and flown to New York City. At the New York airport, the United States marshals threatened to get his brother and cursed the Arabs" The marshals then transported him to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York ("New York MCC") where he was placed in a room so cold that his body turned blue..... Awadallah was then taken to a doctor. After being examined, a guard caused his hand to bleed by pushing him into a door and a wall while he was handcuffed The same guard also kicked his leg shackles and pulled him by the hair to force him to face an American flag

The next day, October 2. 2001, the marshals transported Awadallah to [the]

Awadallah was held as a material witness for twenty days and then charged with perjury for saying that he knew the name of one of the alleged hijackers but not of another one. He was released on bond eighty-three days after his September 20, 2001 arrest. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with attorney Jesse Berman, New York, New York, November 6, 2001.

Court. With his hands cuffed behind his back and bound to his feet, the transporting marshals pinched his upper arms so hard that they were bruised... In the elevator, the marshals made his left foot bleed by kicking it and the supervising marshal threatened to kill him 296 The

US government stated in an affidavit filed in court that "there is no dispute that Awadallah had bruises on his upper arms as of October 4, 2001.299 A report by a Special Investigative Agent found that Awadallah had multiple (bruises] on arms, right shoulder, [and] both ankles, a cut on his left hand, and an unspecified mark near his left eye."

Detainces have also claimed they were verbally harassed and physically abused by jail inmates held on criminal charges. At least three have said they were beaten by inmates and that correctional officers failed to prevent the attacks or to act in a timely manner to stop them. Two of the detainces were held in Mississippi jails where immigration detainees were commingled with accused or convicted criminals In both cases, inmates somehow learned that the targeted detainees had been arrested in connection with the terrorist investigation. The Civil Rights Division of the FBI opened investigations in

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these two cases but decided not to prosecute any

of the alleged aggressors Local law enforcement has also taken no action. A third man. Qaiser Rafiq, who was held on criminal charges in Connecticut, allegedly asked jail officials for protection after a local newspaper published a story linking him to terrorism Jail staff took no measures to protect him He said inmates beat him repeatedly. He was transferred out of the facility only after the third assault.

Cases of alleged physical abuse committed against September 11 INS detainees by inmates include

· Uzi Bohadana, a twenty-four-year-old Jewish Isracht, was arrested on September 14, 2001, on immigration charges He was held at the Madison County Jail in Canton, Mississippi He told Human Rights Watch that he did not have any problems in jail for two days until someone Bohadana suspects it was jail staff spread the word he was a ter

rorist

At around 6:30 pm on September 16. he was sleeping on the floor when six inmates kicked him in the face and punched him. He said he passed out and then woke up hearing an inmate saying. Come on, stop, leave him alone." Someone also said. "let's finish him, and he was beaten again During the beating he was called a "fucking terronst." Bobadana said he shouted for help and kicked the cell door. Prior to the attack, a correctional officer had always been stationed at a post about two feet away from the cell, but there was nobody there during the beating At 9:15 pm, more than two and a half hours after the beating, Bohadana said that correctional officers came in and took him out of the cell His injunes required stitches on his right eye and lip, and surgery to treat his broken jaw

The next day, INS and FBI agents questioned Bohadana about the incident Bohadana said that he identified the six men who attacked him from pictures that the officials

Hasnain Javed, a twenty-year-old Pakistani. was arrested on September 19, 2001 for overstaying his visa and taken to the Stone County Correctional Facility in Wiggins. Mississippi He was placed in a cell with five other INS detainees and about five accused or convicted criminals Javed said that as he was making a phone call, a criminal inmate attacked him. According to Javed. "He gave an extremely powerful punch on my face and continued punching me so ferociously that he broke my front tooth. A second man then joined him, and they beat me up together for over five minutes." He rang an intercom bell and asked for help from a woman who answered. He was crying and pleaded. "Please come and save me A third man also beat him. The attackers were shouting and calling him a terrorist, saying he was not from the United States An inmate told him, hev, bin Laden. this is the first round. There are gonna be ten rounds "I have nothing to do with this man." Javed replied "Too bad. you're Pakistani, you're too close," the inmate said. "They kept banging my head fiercely against the bars of the cell, and my left ear began to bleed," Javed said. 1 thought I was going to die. I was crying and praying for an officer to show up," he told Human Rights Watch Javed said he went to his bunk, but the attackers would not Icavc him alone. They took his clothes off and beat him again Everyone was cheering and laughing, and they shouted. Kill hum!" A

Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Bohadana, and with attorney Patricia Ice. Jackson, Mississippi, November 5, 2001.

Letter from Albert N Moskowitz, chief of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the FBI. to Usi Boladana, December 27, 2001 ibid

man held him down naked while another one smacked him with a shoe. After being beaten for twenty or twenty-five minutes, correctional officers arrived at the cell. Javed had a tooth broken, bruised ribs, a split lip. a punctured cardrum, and a lacerated, swollen tongue. According to his lawyer, who saw him two days later, he could hardly speak. She said that Javed had to undergo therapy to deal with the emotional trauma stemming from the attack.

Javed did not know how the inmates knew his nationality since, he told Human Rights Watch, he is "very fair-skinned" and speaks perfect American English. In statements to the press. Stone County Sheriff Mike Ballard said that Javed taunted other detainees by saying, "Fuck the United States. I'm glad they hit the World Trade Center," an allegation that Javed denies Ballard further asserted that Javed had attacked other inmates with a broom handle, so they reacted in self-defense. The sheriff did not explain why Javed would assault others naked. Ballard said the correctional officers were watching the assault on vidco and got to the cell in two or three minutes.

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Two days after the assault, once Javed was released on bond, his attorney took him to the New Orleans office of the FBI, where officials took pictures of his injuries, and to the local hospital. The FBI opened an investigation on the incident but it did not ask Javed to identify the attackers and it did not conduct any follow-up interview with him. His lawyer said that she offered the medical records but the FBI did not ask for them. She also informed the FBI, the INS district director, and law enforcement officials in Mississippi in an October 3 letter that scveral immigration detainees witnessed the assault. When Human Rights Watch talked to the FBI agent in charge of the investiga

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300 For the sheriff's statements. scc Josh Tyrangiel, "A beating on the way back home," Time. December 10, 2001, and Cusac, "Ill-Treatment on Our Shores." Wr Letter to Christine Davis. INS district director, Louisiana. from Mary Howell, Esq. October 3, 2001.

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In a January 16 letter to Hasnain Javed`s attorney, the local U.S. attorney's office said that it would communicate to her any charging decisions on the case, but that at that moment the FBI had not yet concluded its investigation Letter to Mary Howell from Christopher L. Schmidt, assistant district attorney, Second Circuit Court District of Mississippi, January 16, 2002.

311 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews with Qaiser Rafiq. Uncasville. Connecticut, March 14, 15, and 18, 2002. See also. Dave Altimari, "Enigmatic Suspect Raises Brows: Intriguing Clucs Attract Investigators in Terrorism Probe," Hartford Courant, January 7, 2002; and Carole Bass, "Bloody Good Reading." New Haven Advocate, March 14, 2002.