Pa. Prison Guard at Center of Iraqi Prison Torture
Currently employed at SCI-Greene, Site of Abuse ScandalsFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2004PHILADELPHIA - Prison reform advocates were disgusted but not surprised to learn that Charles A. Graner, Jr., a currently-employed guard at the State Correctional Institution at Greene (SCI-Greene) and an active duty reservist stationed at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, is facing court-martial for torturing Iraqi prisoners. Assigned as a supervisor at Abu Ghraib because of his civilian experience in corrections, Graner is one of the Americans posing jubilantly over naked and humiliated Iraqis in the photos that have ignited international outrage. SCI-Greene, a super maximum-security prison in rural southwestern Pa, was the site of an abuse investigation by the Department of Corrections (DOC) in 1998 which resulted in the transfer of the prison superintendent, the termination of two lieutenants, and disciplinary action against about two dozen guards. The DOC refused to release internal videotapes of assaults by guards, and the Greene County District Attorney declined to criminally prosecute any prison staff. DOC officials have declined to comment on disciplinary proceedings against Graner citing personnel policies.
At the conclusion of the 1998 investigation and disciplinary proceedings, Pa. Abolitionists told the DOC administrators that reliable sources placed the number of staff involved in assaults near 100 and that the disciplinary actions were far too lenient. Pa. Abolitionists believes that abuse has continued, with compelling documentation of at least one savage beating of a prisoner at SCI-Greene in 2004 and numerous incidents of medical neglect. On three separate occasions in 2004, Pa. Abolitionists' staff met with Pa. Speaker of the House of Representatives John Perzel (R-Philadelphia) and his staff, with DOC administrators and the Chairman of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia in attendance. Pa. Abolitionists and the Speaker received assurances that the DOC would investigate these matters.
In a May 4th article, the New York Times noted that, "inmates and advocates for prisoner rights asserted in 1998 that guards at the prison routinely beat and humiliated prisoners, including through a sadistic game of Simon Says in which guards struck prisoners who failed to comply with barked instructions." The Times also cited allegations of physical abuse by Graner against his ex-wife who received at least three restraining orders against him.
As an active duty reservist, Graner receives a $500 per month stipend, which he can add to the State Employees Retirement Service, and is eligible to apply for promotions, according to DOC policies posted on the department's website (www.cor.state.pa.us/military.html).
"Whether or not Graner was involved in the SCI-Greene abuses or disciplined by the DOC," states Pa. Abolitionists executive director Jeff Garis, "one wonders if more aggressive investigation and a 'zero-tolerance for abuse' policy by DOC administrators might have prevented at least some of the inexcusable human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib. While it is unclear what will happen to the thugs who tortured the Iraqi prisoners, it is absolutely appalling that at least one of them - a supervisor of the torture, no less - was trained and is currently employed as a guard by our state's DOC. As a taxpayer and a patriotic Pennsylvanian, I am disgusted that someone involved in what Amnesty International has called 'war crimes' is still being paid as a corrections officer by our state."
Pa. Abolitionists believes that the Pennsylvania DOC should immediately begin a serious and open investigation into allegations of abuse in Pennsylvania prisons, along with the release of all videotapes of abuse discovered in 1998 at SCI-Greene. The 9,000-member organization is calling on the DOC to adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy on abuse, immediately terminating criminal employees.
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