Garrett Cunningham
Founder and Developer of Pen Friends and Services, Inc.
Testifying before the US Senate Committee for The Stop Prison Rape Organization
On Tuesday, the commissioners heard some examples. Among them: Garrett Cunningham told commissioners he was raped by a guard in a Texas prison and that when he later complained, authorities brushed his complaints aside. The officer later was charged in an alleged assault on another inmate, and agreed to a plea deal that will keep him out of prison. Cunningham, 33, was released from prison about a year ago. He has begun a prisoner support organization (Pen Friends and Services) which offers resources for inmates.
Jeffrey Scott Hornoff, a former Rhode Island police detective, was convicted of murder and spent six years in prison, but was later cleared after another man confessed to the crime. He said he endured constant humiliation from guards - he refuses to use the term "correctional officers." He said he frequently heard inmates being beaten by guards in solitary confinement. Hornoff, 42, is trying to be reinstated at the police department where he once worked and carries a business card that lists his professional history: "Detective, convicted murderer, exoneree, speaker & advocate."
Judith Haney told commissioners that after she was arrested during the 2003 free trade agreement protests in Miami, she was forced to strip and consent to an invasive search. Female inmates at the time were routinely strip-searched in Miami-Dade, in spite of state law that says such searches can be done only in certain cases, and despite that male inmates arrested on similar charges were not. Haney, 51, of Oakland, Calif., was among those filing a class-action lawsuit over the searches. Miami-Dade County settled the case this week for $4.5-million and a promise to end the practice.