thedrifter
06-17-06, 06:49 AM
Military loosens conditions on Marines in brig <br />
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By Will Dunham <br />
Fri Jun 16, 10:30 PM ET <br />
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The military has loosened the conditions under which it is confining seven Marines and a Navy corpsman as...
thedrifter
06-17-06, 06:50 AM
June 16, 2006
Shackles removed from confined Marines, sailor
By Gidget Fuentes
Times staff writer
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Military officials on Friday said they have decided to remove shackles put on seven confined Marines and one sailor whenever they’re outside their individual cells at the Camp Pendleton brig, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
The eight men, confined at the brig since May 24, were being held with “maximum” restraints based on their battalion commander’s decision following an initial investigation into the shooting. As of Friday, they were shifted into what’s called “medium-in” restraint in pre-trial custody, which does not require shackles to be worn, although they remain escorted anytime they are outside their cell, according to 2nd Lt. Lawton King, a base spokesman.
Under “medium-in,” they won’t have any personal restraint while inside the brig, but once outside – such as to go to a court hearing – each “is restrained with handcuffs attached to a leather belt … and their respective escorts carry along leg cuffs in the event they are needed,” King said.
The decision to lower the restraint level came after a June 15 review by the brig commander, he said.
The seven Marines and Navy corpsman, all members of the Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines currently deployed in Iraq, were first confined to quarters in Iraq on May 12 after allegations rose over the April 26 death of an Iraqi man in the village of Hamdaniya.
Families and defense attorneys representing three of the men had been complaining publicly and to base officials about the confinement measures that were imposed. The brig houses Marines and sailors who are awaiting court hearings or courts-martial as well as those convicted and serving a sentence.
Each of the men are in an 8-foot by 9-foot cells, alone, in a section called “special quarters,” where they receive their meals. Each gets one hour a day to spend at an enclosed outdoor courtyard, where they could exercise if they want, and they can meet with their attorneys in a small private room and with family members in a visitors’ room during weekend and holiday visiting hours.
Jeremiah Sullivan III, a San Diego attorney representing the sailor, a 20-year-old third-class hospital corpsman, has likened the conditions to worst than what convicted felons at the federal “Supermax” prison must endure.
David M. Brahms, a retired brigadier general and attorney in Carlsbad, Calif., who’s met with many of the families, is representing a 21-year-old lance corporal.
The men are “shafted and shackled in the worst conditions being imposed,” Brahms said June 14. “Saddam [Hussein] has a better circumstance than these guys.”
The eight men will remain in special quarters in individual cells, said Maj. Jeffrey Nyhart another base spokesman. Base officials say the brig, which is a Level II confinement facility, does not have “solitary confinement,” unlike prisons including Fort Leavenworth.
Ellie