Posted on 01/12/2006 11:08:44 AM PST by chunk2005
Rudy Lujan, the inmate most critically injured in the July 2004, riot at the Crowley County Correctional Facility, filed suit today against the operators of the private prison, the Corrections Corporation of America.
Lujan, who claims he warned prison officials on numerous occasions that his life was in danger because prison gang members had labeled him a snitch, was severely beaten, thrown off a second floor prison tier, repeatedly stabbed and left for dead by rampaging inmates.
Lujan denied he was ever a snitch.
He said the gang turned on him when he renounced his gang affiliation.
The Denver lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of CCA and violations of his civil rights.
What the hell give this a medal
At least they didn't put underwear over his head.....
careful, AARP may be wiretaping.
Damn Lujan, you a hard man to kill!
It's a pretty simple equation, really.
Prisons are full of very bad people, criminals. The guards are outnumbered 100:1, and MUST rely on the prisoners, therefore, to obey and keep a certain sense of order. Most prisoners understand that their best friend in prison, if they want to get out alive, is the guards (so long as the guards are not sociopaths), because there are some really violent and deadly whack jobs in prison.
So, there is an understanding of sorts between prisoners and guards. It has to be that way.
Same thing in law enforcement. Good guys don't hang out with bad guys. Other bad guys do.
So, if you're a good guy, a cop or a guard and you are given information by a bad guy, or by a prisoner, these bad-guys-doing-something good is the only help you're ever going to get to be able to get at something more serious and dangerous. Prison riots, in which guards get their eyes put out, etc., are prevented by "snitches".
So when you have a snitch, a source, you have GOT to protect him. Having a cavalier attitude "He's a prisoner, so f**k him", means that those prisoners who are likely to cooperate with the guards, to provide information, and to help keep the place reasonably safe from riots, blow ups and insanity...all of which falls heavily on guards...won't do it. The reason people snitch is to keep their own butt safe, and to keep others around them they care about safe from psychopaths. If our attitude is that these folks are in prison, and we don't care about violence in prison, we won't have snitches, and we'll have a lot of widows and orphans of guards, and guards in wheelchairs missing eyeballs.
We have to be smarter than that. A prison sentence should not be a sentence to be raped and stabbed. The guards have to keep that stuff under control, and in a well-functioning prison, they do. But the way they do it in ALL prisons is with the tacit help of the inmates. Inmates know what is going on. Inmates aren't going to tell the guards about the drugs, the porn or the sex, but they DO tell the guards about gangs and especially dangerous weapons in the prison.
Why?
Because somebody is going to be in charge in the prison, and it's better for most inmates if it's the guard with his weapon, and not some gonzo psychopath with a stiletto.
That's the way it really works.
This guy sounds like he was a snitch (of course he has to deny that forever), it sounds like he was found out, and it sounds like the guards didn't give a shit. That is a prison headed towards a riot, with some very dead guards. Guards have to protect snitches. It's not "being a good guy". It's basic survival. And MOST inmates WANT THE GUARDS TO DO THEIR JOB. Because most inmates know the guards aren't going to stick knives in them, etc.
Why was this guy stabbed and thrown off floors and not moved?
Watch for the name of this prison.
Watch for it in the papers.
If the guards are not protecting the snitches and violence is breaking out, it'll be in the papers soon enough.
The secret is that inmates run the prisons, and just about everyone in a prison wants the guards to leave them alone, but do their job and keep the psychopaths they're in their with from cutting people open.
Voice of experience?
Perhaps.
(Don't ask, don't tell.)
I don't doubt what you've said. I had always thought that child molesters were the first to get 'inmate justice.' But, I guess there are probably too many of them now, although they're on the catch and release program with illegals, I think.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.