Trial expert has link to Abu Ghraib

[madmusic]

Résumé says man set to testify for county in jail-abuse lawsuit helped open the Iraq prison.

snip

When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in the spring of 2004, DeLand and three other civilian contractors were denounced by U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, who accused DeLand of having a "checkered record" as Utah's state director of prisons.

DeLand ran Utah's state prison system from 1985 to 1992 after a stint running the county jail in Salt Lake City. Veteran civil-rights attorney Rocky Anderson, who is now the mayor of Salt Lake City, describes DeLand's Utah corrections record as "appalling."

"Mr. DeLand demonstrated a complete lack of humanity in his treatment of prisoners to the point of open contempt," Anderson said Tuesday in a statement relayed by a spokesman.

Despite his critics, DeLand has made a successful career as a corrections expert. He is president of a criminal justice consulting firm, executive director of the Utah Sheriffs' Association and author of dozens of articles on prison management. In the past four years, according to his résumé, he has served as an expert witness in 17 cases across the West and the Southeast.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/92386.html