"TIME TO BAN ROUGH RIDES: PUNISHMENT BEFORE GUILT MUST END" say Robert Weiner and Sylvienne Staines in The Baltimore Sun

WASHINGTON and BALTIMORE, June 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "The federal, state, and local reports on police abuse reform present a host of actions needed, including training, body cameras and improved vetting of officers," say Robert Weiner and Sylvienne Staines in an article published in The Baltimore Sun entitled, "Time to Ban 'Rough Rides'."

The authors point out, "Thus far, no one has called for an outright ban on 'rough rides.' Apparently, innocent until proven guilty does not apply to the back of a prison van; there is no innocence to be found inside its metal interior, which has bruised and broken many a prisoner.  It is severe punishment and even death before guilt."

Weiner and Staines cite that, "In Baltimore alone, at least five people have suffered severe injury once locked inside the moving cell; one person was left a paraplegic and another a quadriplegic, before both died from complications from their injuries. Collectively, juries awarded the families $46.4 million (this number was reduced due to a settlement and state laws that cap such payouts)."

The authors discuss the case of Freddie Gray, who died inside a Baltimore police van in April at a time of heightened racial tensions and discontent for law enforcement around the country because of recent minority deaths in cities including Ferguson, Cleveland, Staten Island and elsewhere.

"Gray's case has incited nationwide attention specifically to rough rides and the police culture that allows them to occur. While it has not been proven that Gray was subject to a rough ride, it's been widely acknowledged that whatever 'happened [to him] happened inside the van,' as Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake put it," write Weiner and Staines.

They contend, "Gray's death and the ensuing riots in Baltimore have provided enough momentum to lead to an official policy against rough rides, both locally and federally.  Police departments across the country, including in two Maryland counties, are already considering changes to their prisoner transport regulations, including adding traditional seatbelts, interior cameras and padded seats in vans." However, "Those changes skirt the issue of police behavior," assert the authors.

Weiner and Staines clarify that, "A form of rough ride is when the driver of the van slams on the breaks so a prisoner, often shackled and not wearing a seatbelt, is jolted forward, ramming into the enforced divider that separates the officers from the prisoners, causing injuries ranging from broken bones to paralysis."

The authors say, "The incidents are common enough to have numerous slang terms – including 'screen test' and 'bringing them up front.' Yet, Vince Canales, president of the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police, told ThinkProgress he is unaware of the practice. It appears that the union head should interview more police, or simply check what generated the massive settlements."

Weiner and Staines report, "Mr. Canales further said that no police practices should be blanketly banned, but that they should instead be reviewed on a 'case by case' basis."  They emphasize, "that kind of protection of the police culture is part of the problem. Of course there must be a standard policy: Specifically, rough rides must be ended.  They are mean-spirited, immoral and immature punishment without trial -- with a deadly potential."

Weiner and Staines note that the police jokingly call rough rides "bus therapy" at Rikers Island in New York. They recall a New York Times investigation on brutality in the prison, "which found that for Jose Bautista, an inmate at Rikers serving time for a misdemeanor, what was supposed to be a 15 minute ride took close to 9 hours.  He suffered perforated bowels leaked into his abdomen, leaving him in crippling pain and clinging to life. No guard was punished, not even the guards that inflicted the injury."

They add, "Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of Freddie Gray's van, has been charged with 'depraved-heart' second-degree murder. In other words, prosecutors believe he didn't care about hurting the victim."

Weiner and Staines conclude, "Rough rides are morally wrong; they devalue human lives and disgrace the criminal justice system. Simply put, they must be banned."

Robert Weiner is former spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, spokesman for the House Government Operations Committee, and senior staff for Congressmen John Conyers, Charles Rangel, Claude Pepper, and Ed Koch.  Sylvienne Staines is a policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change Foundation.

Link to article: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-rough-rides-20150621-story.html

Contact: Bob Weiner or Autumn Kelly 301-283-0821 cell 202-306-1200
[email protected]

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change