BOP Uses Prison Rape Threat to Torture Keith Raniere in SHU — Sadistically
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This article was first published in the Frank Report (www.frankreport.com) on March 5, 2023. Read it here:
BOP Uses Prison Rape Threat to Torture Raniere in SHU — Sadistically
Keith Raniere has been in the SHU (Segregated Housing Unit) for over 200 consecutive days and over 300 days since he arrived at USP-Tucson, a BOP (Federal Bureau of Prisons) facility on January 21, 2021
FR has extensively covered Raniere’s SHU stay:
Keith Raniere Attacked; Sent to SHU – Prison Record Released
Tighe: On the Most Abusive SHU; Raniere May Go to Dangerous Prison
Raniere Sat Lonely in SHU as 62nd Birthday Came and Went
Raniere: 7 Weeks in SHU, With Intersex Person- Claims Danger, Retaliation and Worst Conditions
Raniere Trapped in SHU for 60 Days, May Transfer to Worst Prison; Elliot Banned
100 Days in SHU – Toni Fly Threatens to Kill Raniere
Raniere Paces the SHU on New Year’s With Toni Fly Going Nuts
Raniere Pleads to USP Tucson; BOP Director Colette Peters: ‘Release Me From SHU’
Raniere From SHU: ‘I am Actually Innocent;’ Junco Is Out to Kill Me & 19 Streaks Were Real
The BOP Cannot Explain Why Raniere is Still in the SHU
To date, the BOP has not provided valid reasons why Raniere remains in the barbarous conditions of the SHU, with shit-stained walls, no natural light, inedible food, no access to prison recreation or programming, no fresh air, an open toilet inches away from his bed, cruel prison guards, indifferent prison administrators, and a confused, violent, psychopathic cellmate.
The BOP should concede that they cannot release Raniere from the SHU because they do not have control of their institutions. This is a pattern of mismanagement.
See Christie Thompson, THE MARSHALL PROJECT “After Several Deaths, Feds to Close Violent Prison Unit in Illinois.”
But the BOP has certain sadistic propensities. Maybe that is what it takes to seek out such work as taking custody of other human beings with the intent to punish them.
And a large portion of the DOJ hierarchy loves to see other humans suffer – especially if they served up the suffering – and the population at large, for that matter, enjoy knowing people they think are bad like Raniere is being tortured.
It challenges logic to argue that these sadistic-oriented folks are better than those who enjoy their torture.
Raniere’s SHU Confinement is Torture Under the UN Charter
The United States is a signatory of the United Nations Charter. No one forced them to sign, either.
The United Nations first adopted the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in 1957. In 2015, these Rules were revised and adopted as the “Nelson Mandela Rules” to honor the legacy of the late President of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison in the course of his struggle for global human rights, equality, democracy, and the promotion of a culture of peace.
The Nelson Mandela Rules are a primary source of international human rights standards relating to treatment in detention. They are the fundamental framework used by monitoring and inspection mechanisms in assessing the treatment of prisoners.
The United States is a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). Again, no one forced us to sign – and the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States prohibit torture.
United Nations experts say SHU confinement exceeding 15 consecutive days is torture. See Nils Melzer, UN Report, February 28, 2020.
And it is torture. Most big-talking commenters here and on social media would shit 19 streaks on the wall if they had to undergo one-tenth of the torture Raniere has endured.
Raniere has been in the SHU for over 200 consecutive days this stint and over 300 days since he arrived at USP-Tucson. That is TWENTY (20) TIMES the duration the UN says is torture.
Raniere’s SHU Confinement is Torture Under the US Constitution
Torture is a per se violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. See Rhodes v. Chapman (“The Eighth Amendment proscribes [not only] barbarous tortures which are inflicted upon persons in other nations who lack our constitutional protections, as [as well as] punishments which, although not physically barbarous; “involve the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain,” or are grossly disproportionate to the severity of the crime. Among “unnecessary and wanton” inflictions of pain are those that are “totally without penological justification.”)
The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that placement in the SHU for an extended duration, without justification, and with deliberate indifference to established international human rights norms may violate the Eighth Amendment. See Hutto v. Finney (“P]unitive isolation “s not necessarily unconstitutional, but it may be, depending on the duration of the confinement and the conditions thereof.’”).
Some period of extended solitary confinement premised upon valid penological reasons is a permissible exercise in the United States. However, torture and unjustified extended solitary confinement is inherently cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. See Davis v. Ayala (Kennedy, J., concurring); Anderson v. Cnty. of Kern.
In all of these cases, the U.S. Attorney, the BOP, and prison officials could justify confinement based upon valid penological reasons.
In Raniere’s case, valid penological reasons for SHU confinement, which is clearly more harsh and onerous than normal prison life in the general population, have yet to be offered.
In fact, the record shows that each and every stated “reason” has been arbitrary, capricious, and/or baseless. What the BOP is selling is, as George Carlin might say, “stunning bullshit.”
The Eighth Amendment prohibits punishments involving “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.” Estelle v. Gamble, or that are inconsistent with “evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.”
But we are not a maturing society. We are a nation of savages who love to see others suffer and only need the slightest justification to forget that humanity forbids torturing even the wretched and the most misguided.
A mature society will seek to protect its denizens, deter others from similar crimes, and, if possible, rehabilitate the convicted But who will correct us?
Mr. Raniere’s punishment at the hands of the BOP involves the unnecessary and wanton infliction of painful, unduly harsh, and inhuman conditions of life.
The BOP cannot articulate any plausible reason or administrative predicate why USP-Tucson has kept Raniere in the SHU for such an outlandish period of time in violation of international human rights norms and the laws, treaty obligations, and Constitution of the United States.
The BOP cannot say why they continue to torture Raniere. They really can’t.
The BOP’s Pretextual Excuses For Raniere’s Continued Torture
The BOP’s Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) and Special Investigation Service (SIS) at USP Tucson have recommended continued SHU placement for Raniere because they fear he might be a victim of “sexual abuse” under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). You can’t make this shit up.
The CTU typically does not rely on the PREA requirements to perform its counter-terrorism function. Violent terrorists or extremists do not go to Federal Prison just so they can rape Keith Raniere or anyone else for that matter. “Even if I fail at becoming a martyr, I will be rewarded with my 72 virgins when I die. In the interim, I will get to rape Keith Rainere in US Federal Prison.” I think not.
If the issue is Raniere’s likelihood as a sexual assault victim, why is the BOP’s CTU involved? Raniere is not a terrorist.
BOP’s CTU is pretextually manufacturing reasons to hold Raniere indefinitely in the SHU and subject him to torture.
Raniere might get raped, so we’re allowed to torture him. That’s their position in a nutshell.
But if the BOP doesn’t have control of its institutions, can’t anyone get raped at any time? So by that logic, isn’t torture always justified?
The BOP cannot cite any valid penological reasons for their extended and continued treatment of Keith Raniere.
Keith Raniere Should Raise the Torture Issue Immediately
If Raniere petitions the federal courts that he is being tortured, the BOP may be forced to release him from the SHU. A federal court may also be compelled to grant him additional remedies.
On May 25, 2022, President Biden issued Executive Order 14075, expressing that inmates should be “free from prolonged segregation,” as the use of restrictive housing has surged in recent years. See Executive Order 2-22-118100 (“It is also the policy of my Administration to ensure that conditions of confinement are safe and humane and that those who are incarcerated are not subjected to unnecessary or excessive uses of force, are free from prolonged segregation”).
New BOP Director Colette S. Peters assured Congress she is “looking into” improper use of the SHU and other lingering constitutional and human rights issues. See Statement of Colette S. Peters, Before the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” September 29, 2022.
Many are skeptical that anything will change in federal prisons. Observers say these issues have plagued the BOP and its institutions for years. It’s because the people who gravitate there to these jobs love the cruelty.
See Walter Pavlo, “First Appearance By Bureau Of Prisons Director Falls Shorts On Facts,” FORBES, October 1, 2022.
BOP Director Colette Peters tried to humanize prisons as director of the Oregon system, building a Japanese garden in one penitentiary and making the official language less demeaning.
And Japanese gardens are lovely, but it’s nicer to stop torturing humans.
Raniere’s case is a high-profile opportunity for Peters to demonstrate her commitment to more than Japanese gardens. And reform the insanely cruel form of torture of keeping a human in a 6×9 cage without light, fresh air, decent food, or the right to communicate, walk or even excrete more than one foot away from one’s bed.
Suppose change in the BOP can be self-initiating and without court intervention. In that case, it must start with a non-sadistic person at the top who realizes she has more than the brutal punishment of inmates in her correctional institutes’ missions. Who but her to correct the sadists who work for her? And hope that for both, there is no recidivism.
The BOP definitely has the tools, such as management variables, to allow administrators to place potentially at-risk inmates where they can be safe.
Raniere’s isolation is so clearly “punitive.” His placement in the USP-Tuscon SHU remains legally unsupported and administratively unjustified
He is not there for any disciplinary action – other than claiming that the government cheated to get him convicted.
The BOP’s treatment of Raniere is a flagrant violation of the US Constitution, human rights, international norms, common decency, the Nelson Mandela Rules, and Treaty obligations of the United States, and are indefensible cruel, unusual, and punishing conditions of confinement.
If BOP Director Colette Peters feels unwilling to act, Keith Raniere must petition the federal courts immediately, and the courts must act swiftly and decisively to condemn torture, pretextuality, and sadism in federal law enforcement.
Nelson Mandela said a nation should be judged by how well it treats the least among them. If judged by conditions in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the United States is a dishonest, unprincipled, moral failure.
Richard Luthmann is a writer, commentator, satirist, and investigative journalist with degrees from Columbia University and the University of Miami. Once a fixture in New York City and State politics, Luthmann is a recovering attorney who lives in Southwest Florida and a proud member of the National Writers Union.
For Article Ideas, Tips, or Help: richard.luthmann@protonmail.com or call 239-287-6352.
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