TORTURE DEFINED. Title 18, part 1, chapter 113C, sec. 2340. Definitions.As
used in this chapter—(1) "torture" means an act committed by a person acting
under the color of law specifically intended to inflict physical or mental pain or
suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon
another person within his custody or physical control; (2) "severe mental pain
and suffering" means prolonged harm caused by or resulting from—(A) the
intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering.
COURT RULINGS.
"People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment." Battle v.
Anderson, 447 F.Supp. 516 (S.D. New York 1977), Wofish v. Levi, 439 F. Supp.
114
"Lack of serious injury is not fatal to eighth amendment excessive force claim
under sec. 1983 by prison inmate [against prison guards.] Norman v. Taylor (4th
Circuit 1993), 9 F3d 1078.
"Inmate has constitutional right to be secure in bodily integrity and free from
attack by prison guards." Hovater v. Robinson (10th Circuit, 1993), 1 F3d 1063.
"An officer who acts in violation of the Constitution ceases to represent the
government." Brookfield Co. v. Stewart, 284 F. Supp. 94.
"The prisoner is not stripped of constitutional rights (protections) at the prison
gate, but rather he retains all the rights of an ordinary citizen except to those
expressly, or by necessary implication taken from him by law." Bell v. Wolfish
(1979), 441 US 520, 60 L.Ed.2d 447; 99 SCt 1800; Brown v. Nix (8th Circuit,
1994), 33 F3d 951; Procunier v. Martinez (1979), 416 US 396; 40 LEd2d 224, 94
SCt 1800.
"Practices that involve unnecessary and unrestricted infliction of pain are
prohibited." Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 US 337; 69 LEd2d 59; 101 SCt 2392
(1981).
"The scope of eight amendment protection is broader than the mere infliction of
physical pain." Scher V. Engelke (8th Circuit, 1993), 943 F2d 921.
"Unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain upon prisoners constituted cruel and
unusual punishment forbidden by the eighth amendment." Jordan v. Gardener
(9th Circuit, 1993), 986 F2d 1521, Hendricks v. Coughlin (2nd Circuit, 1991),
942 F2d 109.
"Fact that inmate did not suffer debilitating or permanent injury from being struck
by security officer did not mean that the officer’s actions were consistent with
eighth amendment." McLaurin v. Prater (8th Circuit, 1994), 30 F3d 982.
Infliction of psychological pain can violate eighth amendment’s prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment." Perkins v. Kansas Dept. of Corrections
(10th Circuit, 1999), 165 F3d 803.
"Generally, damages for emotional distress may be awarded upon showing of
intimidation…shock, or humiliation." Thompson v. Opeiu (6th Circuit, 1996) 74
F3d 1492.
"THE TWIST" strappado-like torture, then, definitely qualifies as "cruel
and unusual punishment" in violation of the eight amendment—a
humiliating, anguishing and tormenting form of violent police brutality
that provides the "special" benefit to its rogue LAS VEGAS paramilitary
police "executioners" of not causing any visible or permanent injury to
the targeted victim (i.e., felony "evidence.")
President Bush and the Justice Department have determined that
"torture" includes any act specifically intended "to cause severe pain
and suffering." www.archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.
cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=torture31&date=20041231&query=Torture31
TESTIMONY.
I, Clarence Douglas Malcolm, hereby affirm the true fact that I'm a bona fide
State and Federal victim of—and witness to—police brutality, false arrests, frame-
ups, unlawful imprisonments and, more recently, inhumane torture by a
contortion technique known as “THE TWIST” which resembles the medieval
strappado torture [i.e., twisting arms backward, fastening the hands together
and hoisting the victim off the ground to cause excruciating pain] perpetrated
against me on the evening of August 22, 2004, by one of its most corrupt
political subdivisions of the UNITED STATES government, the CITY OF LAS
VEGAS, NEVADA—via rogue metropolitan paramilitary “peace officers” therein.
I reasonably presume that the LAS VEGAS metropolitan police department
learned how to execute “THE TWIST” strappado-like torture technique form the
CIA which has many agents and, no doubt, tremendous influence over local
government and media. This is due to the true fact that Area 51 is only a short
flight away with many of its employees involved in clandestine operations there.
Moreover, the CIA is well-acquainted with the “strappado” torture technique
since this “outlaw” agency has been accused of utilizing it.
Moreover, I witnessed four LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, white UNITED STATES
federal-paramilitary police officers feloniously and brutally assault and torture an
black man in like manner as I was tortured. I later learned that many arrestees
and inmates have been tortured as this black man and I were. I did everything
humanly possible to expose this crime, including the execution of criminal
complaints against the perpetrators, all to no avail because of rampant and
felonious public crime and corruption within the UNITED STATES and many—if
not all—of its political subdivisions, thereby establishing me as a bona fide victim
of (and witness to) unlawfully and illegally denied “uniform” justice and remedy at
law, constituting the compounded felony crimes of dereliction of duty, obstruction
of justice, and conspiracy.
MARK: Clarence Douglas Malcolm Dated: July 14, 2007
UPDATE: LATEST INFORMATION ON TORTURE
"The term 'torture' means any act by which severe pain or suffering,
whether Physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for
such purposes as obtaining information or a confession ... inflicted by or
at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public
official or any other person acting in an official capacity ... No
exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a
threat of war, internal political stability or any other public emergency,
may be invoked as a justification of torture."
Could any statement of law be clearer? WAR CRIMES EXPOSED!
The Convention continues: "No State Party shall expel, return
('refouler') or extradite a person to another State where there are
substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being
subjected to torture." In short, "rendition" is also flat-out illegal.
Conviction of acting officials in the chain of command for such
violations that are part and parcel of war crimes or crimes against
humanity, pursuant to the US inspired, post World War II Nuremberg
Doctrine, makes those officials, irrespective of rank, title or
position, subject to punishment by life imprisonment or the death
penalty. This is no laughing matter. It's not even a matter of
impeachment of a few wayward officials.
Is the US bound by the law? Yes. Can the US president grant
immunity? No. The US government crafted, promoted, adopted, signed
and ratified the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which therefore
automatically becomes the "supreme law of the land," pursuant to the
US Constitution, which itself forbids cruel punishment. No enabling
legislation is required to give effect to these basic principles of law.
Only the details of how cases are dealt with are subject to further
legislation or executive order. Each state party is required by the
Convention to enforce its terms under its own national criminal law. The
failure to do so is itself a violation of international and US Constitutional
law.
Note that the Convention, and therefore the national and
international law on torture, makes no reference and provides no
escape clause for treatment that amounts to less than "organ failure" - a
vile concept prefabricated by the Bush administration, with absolutely
no basis in law. It is absolutely irrelevant whether "waterboarding" does
or does not produce organ failure. Repeated drowning, revival and
drowning again causes acute suffering, whether performed in a full-size
bath tub, a bucket or basin, or by means of a cloth stuffed over the
face and in the mouth while water is poured over the victim. Water-
boarding constitutes torture; it is utterly immoral and illegal, period, full
stop. Besides, more than 50 detainees are known to have died under
Bush's secret program of interrogation, and many more are suspected
of the same under Bush's secret program of illegal rendition.
During World War II, with so much hanging in the balance, we
Americans did not torture prisoners to obtain information or confession.
Even more telling, we did not use torture during the Cold War when we
faced the real possibility of massive exchange of surprise nuclear
strikes. This was especially striking in Germany in the 1950s. At that
time, I was personally involved in the physical capture of a Soviet agent
working in a Warsaw Pact spy ring. I attended as he was interrogated all
night long in a detention center. Professional interrogators threatened
him with both carrot and stick, but they never used torture. The agent
finally chose the carrot. He broke down and yielded reliable and
verifiable information (which torture would not have yielded) and this
led, within weeks, to the mopping up of the entire spy ring. (At the time
of which I speak, many of today's leaders and actors were still crawling
around in diapers.) The moral of the story: We don't "do" torture,
because torture is illegal, it is immoral, we are Americans, and we don't
want others to torture us. It's that simple.
Torture, within the meaning of the 1984 Convention Against Torture,
continues to be secretly and systematically inflicted and condoned by
various officials at the highest levels of the Bush administration. Most
of these high-level officials have no experience of combat, of
imprisonment or of interrogation. They have trashed the reputation of
America around the globe. As a result, they are contributing to the rise
of international terrorism. These leaders and actors appear to lack the
imagination, intellectual capacity and moral compass to understand what
is at stake, and keep America on the moral high ground. They need a
primer on the basics. They better learn quick, because there is no
statute of limitations on war crimes and crimes against humanity, and as
our US president has himself said, in a not-dissimilar context, "They
can run, but they can't hide."
used in this chapter—(1) "torture" means an act committed by a person acting
under the color of law specifically intended to inflict physical or mental pain or
suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon
another person within his custody or physical control; (2) "severe mental pain
and suffering" means prolonged harm caused by or resulting from—(A) the
intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering.
COURT RULINGS.
"People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment." Battle v.
Anderson, 447 F.Supp. 516 (S.D. New York 1977), Wofish v. Levi, 439 F. Supp.
114
"Lack of serious injury is not fatal to eighth amendment excessive force claim
under sec. 1983 by prison inmate [against prison guards.] Norman v. Taylor (4th
Circuit 1993), 9 F3d 1078.
"Inmate has constitutional right to be secure in bodily integrity and free from
attack by prison guards." Hovater v. Robinson (10th Circuit, 1993), 1 F3d 1063.
"An officer who acts in violation of the Constitution ceases to represent the
government." Brookfield Co. v. Stewart, 284 F. Supp. 94.
"The prisoner is not stripped of constitutional rights (protections) at the prison
gate, but rather he retains all the rights of an ordinary citizen except to those
expressly, or by necessary implication taken from him by law." Bell v. Wolfish
(1979), 441 US 520, 60 L.Ed.2d 447; 99 SCt 1800; Brown v. Nix (8th Circuit,
1994), 33 F3d 951; Procunier v. Martinez (1979), 416 US 396; 40 LEd2d 224, 94
SCt 1800.
"Practices that involve unnecessary and unrestricted infliction of pain are
prohibited." Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 US 337; 69 LEd2d 59; 101 SCt 2392
(1981).
"The scope of eight amendment protection is broader than the mere infliction of
physical pain." Scher V. Engelke (8th Circuit, 1993), 943 F2d 921.
"Unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain upon prisoners constituted cruel and
unusual punishment forbidden by the eighth amendment." Jordan v. Gardener
(9th Circuit, 1993), 986 F2d 1521, Hendricks v. Coughlin (2nd Circuit, 1991),
942 F2d 109.
"Fact that inmate did not suffer debilitating or permanent injury from being struck
by security officer did not mean that the officer’s actions were consistent with
eighth amendment." McLaurin v. Prater (8th Circuit, 1994), 30 F3d 982.
Infliction of psychological pain can violate eighth amendment’s prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment." Perkins v. Kansas Dept. of Corrections
(10th Circuit, 1999), 165 F3d 803.
"Generally, damages for emotional distress may be awarded upon showing of
intimidation…shock, or humiliation." Thompson v. Opeiu (6th Circuit, 1996) 74
F3d 1492.
"THE TWIST" strappado-like torture, then, definitely qualifies as "cruel
and unusual punishment" in violation of the eight amendment—a
humiliating, anguishing and tormenting form of violent police brutality
that provides the "special" benefit to its rogue LAS VEGAS paramilitary
police "executioners" of not causing any visible or permanent injury to
the targeted victim (i.e., felony "evidence.")
President Bush and the Justice Department have determined that
"torture" includes any act specifically intended "to cause severe pain
and suffering." www.archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.
cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=torture31&date=20041231&query=Torture31
TESTIMONY.
I, Clarence Douglas Malcolm, hereby affirm the true fact that I'm a bona fide
State and Federal victim of—and witness to—police brutality, false arrests, frame-
ups, unlawful imprisonments and, more recently, inhumane torture by a
contortion technique known as “THE TWIST” which resembles the medieval
strappado torture [i.e., twisting arms backward, fastening the hands together
and hoisting the victim off the ground to cause excruciating pain] perpetrated
against me on the evening of August 22, 2004, by one of its most corrupt
political subdivisions of the UNITED STATES government, the CITY OF LAS
VEGAS, NEVADA—via rogue metropolitan paramilitary “peace officers” therein.
I reasonably presume that the LAS VEGAS metropolitan police department
learned how to execute “THE TWIST” strappado-like torture technique form the
CIA which has many agents and, no doubt, tremendous influence over local
government and media. This is due to the true fact that Area 51 is only a short
flight away with many of its employees involved in clandestine operations there.
Moreover, the CIA is well-acquainted with the “strappado” torture technique
since this “outlaw” agency has been accused of utilizing it.
Moreover, I witnessed four LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, white UNITED STATES
federal-paramilitary police officers feloniously and brutally assault and torture an
black man in like manner as I was tortured. I later learned that many arrestees
and inmates have been tortured as this black man and I were. I did everything
humanly possible to expose this crime, including the execution of criminal
complaints against the perpetrators, all to no avail because of rampant and
felonious public crime and corruption within the UNITED STATES and many—if
not all—of its political subdivisions, thereby establishing me as a bona fide victim
of (and witness to) unlawfully and illegally denied “uniform” justice and remedy at
law, constituting the compounded felony crimes of dereliction of duty, obstruction
of justice, and conspiracy.
MARK: Clarence Douglas Malcolm Dated: July 14, 2007
UPDATE: LATEST INFORMATION ON TORTURE
"The term 'torture' means any act by which severe pain or suffering,
whether Physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for
such purposes as obtaining information or a confession ... inflicted by or
at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public
official or any other person acting in an official capacity ... No
exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a
threat of war, internal political stability or any other public emergency,
may be invoked as a justification of torture."
Could any statement of law be clearer? WAR CRIMES EXPOSED!
The Convention continues: "No State Party shall expel, return
('refouler') or extradite a person to another State where there are
substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being
subjected to torture." In short, "rendition" is also flat-out illegal.
Conviction of acting officials in the chain of command for such
violations that are part and parcel of war crimes or crimes against
humanity, pursuant to the US inspired, post World War II Nuremberg
Doctrine, makes those officials, irrespective of rank, title or
position, subject to punishment by life imprisonment or the death
penalty. This is no laughing matter. It's not even a matter of
impeachment of a few wayward officials.
Is the US bound by the law? Yes. Can the US president grant
immunity? No. The US government crafted, promoted, adopted, signed
and ratified the 1984 Convention Against Torture, which therefore
automatically becomes the "supreme law of the land," pursuant to the
US Constitution, which itself forbids cruel punishment. No enabling
legislation is required to give effect to these basic principles of law.
Only the details of how cases are dealt with are subject to further
legislation or executive order. Each state party is required by the
Convention to enforce its terms under its own national criminal law. The
failure to do so is itself a violation of international and US Constitutional
law.
Note that the Convention, and therefore the national and
international law on torture, makes no reference and provides no
escape clause for treatment that amounts to less than "organ failure" - a
vile concept prefabricated by the Bush administration, with absolutely
no basis in law. It is absolutely irrelevant whether "waterboarding" does
or does not produce organ failure. Repeated drowning, revival and
drowning again causes acute suffering, whether performed in a full-size
bath tub, a bucket or basin, or by means of a cloth stuffed over the
face and in the mouth while water is poured over the victim. Water-
boarding constitutes torture; it is utterly immoral and illegal, period, full
stop. Besides, more than 50 detainees are known to have died under
Bush's secret program of interrogation, and many more are suspected
of the same under Bush's secret program of illegal rendition.
During World War II, with so much hanging in the balance, we
Americans did not torture prisoners to obtain information or confession.
Even more telling, we did not use torture during the Cold War when we
faced the real possibility of massive exchange of surprise nuclear
strikes. This was especially striking in Germany in the 1950s. At that
time, I was personally involved in the physical capture of a Soviet agent
working in a Warsaw Pact spy ring. I attended as he was interrogated all
night long in a detention center. Professional interrogators threatened
him with both carrot and stick, but they never used torture. The agent
finally chose the carrot. He broke down and yielded reliable and
verifiable information (which torture would not have yielded) and this
led, within weeks, to the mopping up of the entire spy ring. (At the time
of which I speak, many of today's leaders and actors were still crawling
around in diapers.) The moral of the story: We don't "do" torture,
because torture is illegal, it is immoral, we are Americans, and we don't
want others to torture us. It's that simple.
Torture, within the meaning of the 1984 Convention Against Torture,
continues to be secretly and systematically inflicted and condoned by
various officials at the highest levels of the Bush administration. Most
of these high-level officials have no experience of combat, of
imprisonment or of interrogation. They have trashed the reputation of
America around the globe. As a result, they are contributing to the rise
of international terrorism. These leaders and actors appear to lack the
imagination, intellectual capacity and moral compass to understand what
is at stake, and keep America on the moral high ground. They need a
primer on the basics. They better learn quick, because there is no
statute of limitations on war crimes and crimes against humanity, and as
our US president has himself said, in a not-dissimilar context, "They
can run, but they can't hide."
| Court Cases Prohibiting Torture & Punishment |
