Inmates forced to stand naked for 12 hours covered in cream - report
- From: NewsCore
- January 31, 2011
PRISONERS in Georgia have filed a federal lawsuit after being forced to stand naked for 12 hours covered in cream, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Twenty-nine inmates at the Whitfield County jail in Dalton - about 90 miles (145km) north of Atlanta - were involved in the incident in October last year, the lawsuit claims.
David Bennett, 42, filed the suit with fellow inmate Jesus Gallardo, seeking $5 million in punitive damages, citing human rights violations.
Bennett told The Daily Citizen that the treatment was degrading.
“It was complete humiliation,” he said.
He said the treatment caused "physical strain with the coldness, the shaking and shivering."
Captain Wesley Lynch, who directs jail operations and is one of the defendants in the suit, said the treatment was carried out to get rid of lice.
“There was an outbreak of body lice in one of the cell blocks, and everything in the cell block had to be decontaminated,” he said.
“The application of the ointment was to kill the scabies. Lice become embedded in the skin, and covering the skin with that lotion kills them.”
Two employees were disciplined over the incident.
Read more of this story in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
