FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 20, 2004
SCHUMER: SECOND CORRECTIONS OFFICIAL WITH CHECKERED RECORD
PUT IN POWER POSITION AT IRAQI PRISONS
John Armstrong, Forced Out as Head of Connecticut Corrections
for Questionable Record Involving Mistreatment of Inmates, Now Serves
as Deputy Director of Operations for Iraqi Prisons
Armstrong Joins Lane McCotter as Another Prison Official in
Iraq with Troubling Record of Defending Inmate Abuse
Schumer Demands DOJ Investigation of Crimes by Civilian Contractors
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today revealed that a second prison
official in Iraq has a troubling history of defending prisoner abuse
and called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to immediately initiate
an investigation of all crimes committed by civilian contractors
in the Iraqi prison system.
Schumer discovered that John Armstrong, was forced from his post
as the head of Connecticut’s corrections department for defending
abuses of prisoners but now serves in a high-ranking management
position overseeing the Iraqi prison system. While running Connecticut’s
prison system, Armstrong made a practice of shipping even low-level
offenders to a supermax facility in Virginia which was notorious
for its use of excessive force - ranging from unjustified use of
stun guns shooting 50,000 volts through prisoners to locking inmates
in five-point restraints for such lengthy periods that they were
routinely forced to defecate on themselves.
Furthermore, Armstrong resigned under a cloud of credible allegations
that he tolerated and personally engaged in the sexual harassment
of female employees under his command.
Despite this checkered record, Armstrong was tapped to serve as
the deputy director of operations for the Iraqi prison system. The
new revelations about Armstrong come a week after Schumer reported
that Ashcroft appointed another former prison official, Lane McCotter,
who had a similarly disturbing history of defending inmate abuses,
to be one of four individuals sent by the Department of Justice
to redevelop Iraq’s prison system. McCotter subsequently served
at Abu Ghraib where, among his responsibilities, was designing training
programs for guards.
“One official with a history of prisoner abuse raises an
eyebrow, but two means we have a problem. Why we would send officials
with such disturbing records to handle such a sensitive mission
is beyond me and it demands explanation,” Schumer said.
In a letter to Ashcroft, Schumer called for the Department of Justice
to immediately undertake a complete investigation of the role civilian
contractors have played in crimes against Iraqi prisoners and prosecute
those responsible to the full extent of the law.
“If DOJ does not investigate and prosecute the civilians
who may have committed crimes, no one will,” Schumer wrote,
adding, “We have an obligation to ensure that all those responsible
are brought to justice and we have duty to guarantee that a handful
of privates do not take the fall if they were directed by others.”
Schumer expressed concern that the Department of Defense is planning
to investigate crimes by civilian contractors and pass its findings
along to the Department of Justice. “The DOD investigators
know how to go after military crimes, but civilian crimes to be
prosecuted in civilian courts are a whole different ball of wax.
We need professional prosecutors and criminal investigators on the
job and we need them now,” Schumer said.
Schumer noted that Ashcroft has not responded to a series of questions
Schumer sent him last week regarding the appointment of McCotter
who was ousted from his job as the head of Utah's corrections systems
when a schizophrenic inmate died after being strapped naked to a
chair for 16 hours and McCotter defended the practice. McCotter
also was an executive with a private prison company under investigation
for abuses of inmates' civil rights and denying them access to medical
care when Ashcroft selected him for the Iraq prison mission.
“We’re sending abusers of prisoners’ rights to
Iraq and putting them in charge of prisons where we now learn abuses
are occurring. We need to know why this is happening and what's
being done about it,” Schumer said.
Schumer’s letter
to Ashcroft is attached.
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