L.A. Jails to Get Ray-Gun Technology
Los Angeles jails may become the new frontier for science-fiction weaponry after the Sheriff's Department unveiled plans to use heat-beam ray guns in one county jail, zapping unruly inmates with a beam that “makes them feel as though they are burning.”
Los Angeles jails may become the new frontier for science-fiction weaponry after the Sheriff’s Department unveiled plans to use heat-beam ray guns in one county jail, zapping unruly inmates with a beam that “makes them feel as though they are burning.”
The plan has caught the attention of the ACLU of Southern California, which sees it as “tantamount to torture.” –JCL
WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...Salon:
A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is “tantamount to torture.”
The mechanism, known as an “Assault Intervention Device,” is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends highly focused beams of energy at people and makes them feel as though they are burning. The Los Angeles County sheriff’s department plans to install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world the technology has been deployed in such a capacity.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California criticized Sheriff Lee Baca’s decision in a letter sent Thursday, saying that the technology amounts to a ray gun at a county jail. The 4-feet-tall weapon, which looks like a cross between a robot and a satellite radar, will be mounted on the ceiling and can swivel.
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