Lisa Luriano says she was tortured while imprisoned at the Hattieville Correctional Facility and tonight the Ombudsman says he has proof to back up her claim. Luriano had been remanded for stabbing her stepdaughter Priscilla Hope in the face during a domestic squabble on September first of last year. Those charges have since been dropped but Luriano claims that she was burnt and shocked while imprisoned. The torture allegedly occurred around February 9th after Luriano got into a fight with two other female inmates.
She made a report to the Ombudsman on February 20th. He took her to a doctor who concluded that there was evidence that Luriano was shocked with a high voltage device. That's a serious indictment and the police began a parallel investigation. They concluded the prisons officers acted properly, but after speaking to doctors, prison guards, and the alleged victims, Ombudsman Rodriquez disagreed. He found that while Luriano might have embellished her story, she was treated cruelly and inhumanely.
Paul Rodriquez, Ombudsman
"My investigation showed that there was abusive action. The abuse wasn't in the form in which Miss Louriano complained but it was bad enough and the evidence showed that she had been subdued, that she was locked up behind bars, then handcuffed and then shocked and this was cruel and humane. Two officers who are two prison guards were responsible for this. They are the chief of security and a guard. We have recommended that the two persons involved in the illegal action, the chief if security and the guard be suspended."
Keith Swift,
Why not recommend criminal charges?
Paul Rodriquez,
"Well abusive action may not been criminal you know. One can easily argue that the guards having the duty to keep prisoners in order need to take what action thy need to take in order to bring them into good behavior or acceptable or behavior that will not endanger themselves or other prisoners. So criminal charges, I don't there is really no evidence for that.
I don't think this is the norm at Hattieville Prison, not right now. I think a genuine effort is being made to humanize the treatment of prisoners, it is not perfect. No human is perfect."
Keith Swift,
But you also agree she didn't deserve to be shocked right?
Paul Rodriquez,
"Well no human being deserves to be treated in a undignified manner and no human being deserves cruel and inhumane treatment so in that sense I would have to agree with you that she does not deserve it but certainly she needed to be controlled."
Rodriguez again has recommended that the chief of security and a prison guard be suspended. That is however only a recommendation and he says the decision ultimately rests with the Kolbe Foundation which runs the prison.
