Maine officials seeking pepper-spray video leak

[Paul E Ester]

The Maine Department of Corrections is investigating to determine how the press obtained video and documents about a captain's treatment of an inmate last year.

The video and related documents recount how Capt. Shawn Welch, an official at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, used pepper spray on an inmate who was bound in a restraint chair, then left him in distress for more than 20 minutes. A story about the incident appeared in this week's Maine Sunday Telegram.

Scott Burnheimer, superintendent of the medium- and minimum-security prison, fired Welch over the incident, but that decision was overruled by Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte, who gave Welch a 30-day suspension, according to the documents and interviews.

The newspaper story and video posted on the paper's website led the chairmen of the Legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee to seek a review of the incident.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/mdc-seeking-pepper-spray-video-source_2013-03-21.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Looks like torture to me.

[tabasco]

2. Next moterfuvcking headline I read about this better say:

Asshole prison guard faces charges, loses job!

[Paul E Ester]

3. Corrections officials should be upset about what a video shows, not who released it.

If Maine corrections officials are embarrassed, they have good reason.

An in-house video that showed a supervisor at the Windham prison inappropriately using pepper spray on a restrained inmate leaving him in distress for 20 minutes was shocking when it was revealed in a story in the Maine Sunday Telegram.

The officer, Capt. Shawn Welch, was fired by his supervisors after they viewed the video, but the punishment was reduced to a 30-day suspension by Corrections Commissioner Joseph Ponte.

Now that the public has seen the video, this would be good time for the department to explain what steps have been taken to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. Instead, they are taking steps to make sure that no explosive video like this ever reaches the public again.

http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/prison-leak-probe-looks-for-the-wrong-problem_2013-03-22.html

[dogknob]

4. Not "OMG that's horrible," but "Who's the snitch?"

Regardless of whatever trouble I get myself into on DU, please remember that I don't care if I only live another 6 months; I do what I can to help build a world for my friends' kids (I don't have any), their kids and their grandkids where this sort of stuff is deemed neither acceptable nor necessary.

[Paul E Ester]

5. bump..nt

[Poll_Blind]

6. Shades of 1984...

PB

[Paul E Ester]

8. This was my first thought.

[Poll_Blind]

7. Prison captain fired, but later reinstated, after pepper spraying inmate

http://www.correctionsone.com/staff-misconduct/articles/6159780-Video-Prison-captain-fired-but-later-reinstated-after-pepper-spraying-inmate/

PB

[Paul E Ester]

9. On the back wall is the Great Seal of the State of Maine

The Great Seal of the State of Maine was adopted in June 1820. There have been variations in the details of the seal, but the overall design and images remain true to the original. The center of the seal is a shield adorned with a tranquil scene of a moose resting in a field bordered by water and woods; a pine tree stands tall directly behind the moose. On either side of the shield, a farmer rests on his scythe, and a sailor leans on an anchor. Above the shield is the motto "Dirigo" (I lead), and a stylized North Star. Below the shield is a banner that reads "Maine". The legislature of 1919 decided that the design of the seal should no longer vary, and the design is still used today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_Maine

dirigo
present active dīrigō, present infinitive dīrigere, perfect active dīrexī, supine dīrectum.

I lay straight; arrange in lines, especially military lines.
I direct, steer.
I distribute, scatter.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dirigo