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Clallam Bay Prisoner Brutalized
By Paul Wright
On December 17, 1990, at about 6:35 in the evening several prisoners got into a fight in the F-Unit (Close Custody) rotunda area. Eventually guards carted the participants of that fight off to the "hole." At about 7:10 that evening Aaron Fast, a black prisoner, was called to the F-Unit duty office. Present in the duty office were Sgt.'s Frank and Delong and six prison guards and counselor Kent Gonzalez. F-Unit prisoners, locked in our pods, watched in horror as Aaron was browbeat into a corner by Frank and Delong who then rushed him and within seconds all 8 prison guards were on top of Aaron and he was hidden from view.
A few minutes later after Aaron had his hands handcuffed behind his back he was dragged out of F-Unit, his face visibly bruised, screaming in pain that his arm had been injured. Some 10 minutes later he was taken from the segregation unit (which is down the hall from F-Unit) to the hospital for treatment. It has been reported that Aaron's arm was broken during the incident.
Aaron had not been involved in the earlier fight in any way. He's also not a gang member nor affiliated with any gangs. Just like all the other cases of prisoners beaten by guards that I have witnessed here at CBCC, Aaron has the misfortune of being small in size and young, as usual, it was an all white gang of prison guards that brutalized him.
Complaints to prison officials about past beatings have resulted in no action being taken and the abuses continue.
Complaints have been filed on Aaron's behalf with the U.S. Justice Department, the Governor's office, the NAACP and others. As readers of PLN may recall, it was the beating of prisoner Terry Grant in March of 1990 that set off the riot in F-Unit when outraged prisoners went to his aid and attempted to rescue him from the savage beating he was being subjected to in the F-Unit rotunda. It appears that DOC officials prefer to let matters reach that stage than to train and discipline their staff. How many beatings does a guard have to be involved in before his superiors begin to suspect something is amiss?
As of this writing (Dec. 25, 1990) Aaron is still being held in the hole and all his attackers are carrying on duty as usual.
On December 17, 1990, at about 6:35 in the evening several prisoners got into a fight in the F-Unit (Close Custody) rotunda area. Eventually guards carted the participants of that fight off to the "hole." At about 7:10 that evening Aaron Fast, a black prisoner, was called to the F-Unit duty office. Present in the duty office were Sgt.'s Frank and Delong and six prison guards and counselor Kent Gonzalez. F-Unit prisoners, locked in our pods, watched in horror as Aaron was browbeat into a corner by Frank and Delong who then rushed him and within seconds all 8 prison guards were on top of Aaron and he was hidden from view.
A few minutes later after Aaron had his hands handcuffed behind his back he was dragged out of F-Unit, his face visibly bruised, screaming in pain that his arm had been injured. Some 10 minutes later he was taken from the segregation unit (which is down the hall from F-Unit) to the hospital for treatment. It has been reported that Aaron's arm was broken during the incident.
Aaron had not been involved in the earlier fight in any way. He's also not a gang member nor affiliated with any gangs. Just like all the other cases of prisoners beaten by guards that I have witnessed here at CBCC, Aaron has the misfortune of being small in size and young, as usual, it was an all white gang of prison guards that brutalized him.
Complaints to prison officials about past beatings have resulted in no action being taken and the abuses continue.
Complaints have been filed on Aaron's behalf with the U.S. Justice Department, the Governor's office, the NAACP and others. As readers of PLN may recall, it was the beating of prisoner Terry Grant in March of 1990 that set off the riot in F-Unit when outraged prisoners went to his aid and attempted to rescue him from the savage beating he was being subjected to in the F-Unit rotunda. It appears that DOC officials prefer to let matters reach that stage than to train and discipline their staff. How many beatings does a guard have to be involved in before his superiors begin to suspect something is amiss?
As of this writing (Dec. 25, 1990) Aaron is still being held in the hole and all his attackers are carrying on duty as usual.
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