L.A. jail tests 'intolerable heat' beam on brawling inmates
Officials at a Los Angeles County jail plan to test out an invisible heat-beam weapon originally developed by the military as a way to subdue brawling inmates by making them feel "intolerable heat."
The technology, called an Assault Intervention Device, is a non lethal-weapon developed by Raytheon Company. It originally was scaled down for use at the jail.
The device "emits a focused beam of wave energy that travels at the
speed of light and produces an intolerable heating sensation that causes
targeted individuals to flee. The sensation immediately ceases when the
targeted individual moves away from the beam," according to Raytheon's
website.
Deputies have tested the device, which is controlled by a jail officer using a joystick.
"We believe that technology can help solve problems facing the
corrections community, including addressing issues of inmate violence,"
Sheriff Lee Baca said during a news conference. "The Assault
Intervention Device appears uniquely suited to address some of the more
difficult inmate violence issues without the drawbacks of tools
currently available to us."
"This device will allow us to quickly
intervene without having to enter the area and without incapacitating or
injuring either combatant," Baca added.
Officials say they hope the device can help quell inmate assaults and
reduce prison violence. Its use will be monitored by the U.S.
Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice and Pennsylvania
State University.
The device was installed and is being tested at Pitchess Detention Center at the L.A. County jail in Castaic, California.
That jail was the site of a 200-inmate brawl this weekend in which
inmates threw rocks and debris at officers, who were attempting to stop
them from entering a restricted area, according to CNN affiliate KTLA.
KTLA reported the brawl lasted for an hour before tear gas and
non-lethal weapons were used. CNN is awaiting comment on whether the new
Assault Intervention Device was employed during the brawl.
California Jail to Test Ray Gun on Prisoners
Authorities in Castaic, California, have announced plans to use prisoners as test subjects for a high-tech ray gun that fires an invisible heat beam capable of causing unbearable pain. The 600-pound, seven-foot-tall “Assault Intervention System” was built by Raytheon for the military, but it is now being introduced for domestic purposes. Raytheon is currently working on creating a hand-held version of the ray gun.
ATC Says - OK this would actually be funnier if it wasn't so believable
More info on..........LA authorities plan to use heat-beam ray in jail: (updated info Thu Aug 26, 7:28 pm ET)
LOS ANGELES – A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100826/ap_on_re_us/us_jail_ray_gun
AP – This image provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows an Assault Intervention Device …
The mechanism, known as an "Assault Intervention
Device," is a stripped-down version of a military gadget that sends
highly focused beams of energy at people and makes them feel as though
they are burning. The Los Angeles County sheriff's department plans to
install the device by Labor Day, making it the first time in the world
the technology has been deployed in such a capacity.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern
California criticized Sheriff Lee Baca's decision in a letter sent
Thursday, saying that the technology amounts to a ray gun at a county
jail. The 4-feet-tall weapon, which looks like a cross between a robot
and a satellite radar, will be mounted on the ceiling and can swivel.
It is remotely controlled by an operator in a separate room who lines up targets with a joystick.
The ACLU said the weapon was "tantamount to torture,"
noting that early military versions resulted in five airmen suffering
lasting burns. It requested a meeting with Baca, who declined the
invitation.
The sheriff unveiled the device last week and said it
would be installed in the dorm of a jail in north Los Angeles County.
It is far less powerful than the military version and has various
safeguards in place, including a three-second limit to each beam of
heat.
The natural response when blasted — to leap out the
way — would be helpful in bringing difficult inmates under control and
quelling riots, the sheriff said.
But the sheriff was creating a dangerous environment
with "a weapon that can cause serious injury that is being put into a
place where there is a long history of abuse of prisoners," ACLU
attorney Peter Eliasberg said. "That is a toxic combination."
Cmdr. Bob Osborne, who oversees technology for the
sheriff's department, said the concerns were unfounded. He said he stood
in front of the beam more than 50 times and that it never caused any
sort of lasting damage.
"The neat thing with this device is you experience
pain but you are not injured by it," Osborne said. "It doesn't injure
your skin, the beam doesn't have the power to do that."
He said the device would be a more humane way of
dealing with jail disturbances. Unlike hitting inmates with batons or
deploying tear gas, a shot from the beam has no aftereffects, he said.
The device was made specifically for the sheriff's
department by Raytheon Missile Systems. Sheriff's spokesman Steve
Whitmore said its $750,000 cost was paid for by a Department of Justice
technology grant.
After a six-month trial, the sheriff will determine if the device is effective and if it should be deployed in other jails.
"When this pilot program is done, the realistic hope
is it will accomplish not only what the sheriff's department wants but
what the ACLU wants, which is to save lives harmlessly," Whitmore said.
A Raytheon spokesman on Thursday referred questions
to the sheriff's department, but provided a fact sheet describing how
the device only penetrates skin to a depth 1/64 of an inch. The
military's version of the device can shoot a beam more than 800 feet but
the sheriff's department model has a maximum range of 85 feet.
Angelica Arias, an attorney with the county's Office
of Independent Review, which monitors the sheriff's department, said
only deputies with special training would be able to use the device and a
video would be automatically recorded each time it is operated.
"Based on the level of scrutiny the department has
put on itself and its training, it doesn't appear there would be too
much wiggle room for misuse," Arias said.
ATC Says - I love how they continue to downplay this like, oh it's no big deal I have been zapped several times and there's no lasting damage.....besides these are convicted criminals, just ignore the fact that this is a modified military weapon adapted for civilian use and that these guinea pigs may well serve the way for use on the general population!
