Rape of woman in US police custody

by Miriam Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:59

In case you missed it, you can email the Start County Sherrif's office to register your protest at the following address:

[email protected]

by Miriam Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:20

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/51315

by Miriam Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:33

"I have reviewed this incident and feel comfortable that my deputies performed their rather unpleasant tasks in this incident in a professional manner that is consistent with the requirements of the law. However, an outside, objective review of our actions is always welcome and necessary to maintain the public’s trust in this office. Therefore, Sheriff Tim Swanson reports that after conferring with Counsel and Stark County Prosecutor John Ferrero’s Office, an official request has been made of Attorney General Marc Dann. The letter officially requests that Attorney Marc Dann’s Office review all circumstances surrounding the arrest and incarceration of Hope Steffy in October of 2007. The Stark County Sheriff’s Office will cooperate fully with the Attorney General’s inquiry and review and stands ready to proceed."

http://www.sheriff.co.stark.oh.us/mr080117.htm

by ? Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:49

is the hyperlink, a link to the rape?

if so- i would beg the question to how it is instructive?

unless the victim allowed for this- if not it violates her rights to:-

1. Court process.
2.Her privacy.

I am interested in a rape victim allowing this onto the net?
I certainly would not advise its delivery on the net in any way, shape, or fashion.

by C Murray Wed Feb 13, 2008 13:05

The use of rape is not new, it has been reported on amnesty, in Oaxaca, in war zones around the world. i just
put an anon up on this article with the question;-

'Is the hyperlink a link to a rape?'

(if it is I have to put down my opinion here, I fail to see how the issue of police rape as tool of
repression and psych. warfare is advanced by further violating the privacy of the victim and unless she
allowed it to be put up- which I would not understand- it should be removed and replaced with an article
with links to the Amnesty Violence campaigns or indeed the stories of the dissappeared from Guatemala)
if the article is about introduction of these techniques into the 'developed world' with regard to torture
and psych ops- this is not new- strip search, rape, and separattion from kids has been used on Irish
women activists that I am friends with and know.

The only difference in approach therein is that people will hit the link and witness what is common
in countries as diverse as the africas, South America and the Phillipines- and personally I would
not want to look at it.

Look at the use of rape in Oaxaca, its reported on the newswire UK/Ireland, with witness testimonies
which preserve the privacy and dignity of the victims.

by C Murray Wed Feb 13, 2008 13:08

strip search, violation of rights and separation from kids is common practice against women
campaigners. I know a woman who has been strip searched on multiple occassions.
with regard to this... they cannot do it if you are pregnant, on period, and a woman officer must be present.

by Pat Pending Wed Feb 13, 2008 14:03

In the long term there is the danger of the forces of law_&_order here copying their American counterparts. This kind of thing has to be stopped, by any means legally available to us.
One course of action we could take is to get people to not visit the USA, just boycott U.S. tourism. I am certainly reluctant to visit a country where such acts take place and are not dealt with appropriately.

by Miriam Wed Feb 13, 2008 14:59

What IS new is that US police are being trained to use these tactics far more frequently and in ever more outrageous circumstances. In this case the woman had been the victim of an assault which was reported on her behalf and the police ended up doing this to her.

If you watch the video you will find out that It is the woman herself who has circulated it because she wants people to know what was done to her - to make the police responsible for it as accountable as possible for their actions.

by Sceptic Wed Feb 13, 2008 15:25

The woman seems to have become hysterical and had to be handled robustly. In any case its with the courts. The point is not that abuses won't happen from time to time in even a well run system but that there is redress and sanction as appropriate when they do. Its premature to be making pronouncements until the legal process is finished. We have a duty not to become hysterical over this ourselves in the interim.

Pat Pending - why don't you boycott their technology too? You could stop using HP, Dell, Apple, Microsoft and goggle for instance? You could send us a letter to let us know how you get on.

by C Murray Wed Feb 13, 2008 16:32

I am always interested in the context of things- I have received regular bulletins of this nature
and was wondering why it merited an article, given the use of psych ops against women
in Oaxaca (for example).

The witness testimonies that have been published make hard reading and yet the issue
did not 'mainstream', oaxaca might never have happened , it is advertised as a
colonial holiday destination on our radio services and yet The Brad Will family and
NGO's involved in releases of info have been working at congressional level to
force the issues of impeachment and criminal offence onto the agenda- and it's
ignored.

Therefore I did not hit the link.

There are some interesting articles on the use of rape also in the Guatemalan
justice campaigns and of course the use of strip-searching and issues
on pregnancy and right to access of kids can be read very close to home in relation
to the Mc Aliskey case.

(all these issues and the searches for justice are searchable through Amnesty,
HRW and the IMC's)

by Damien Wed Feb 13, 2008 21:40

The claim by Miriam that this woman was raped is a shameful lie.

Nowhere else has this been claimed, not even in the law suit filed against the sheriffs department.

by Miriam Thu Feb 14, 2008 02:21

Hope Steffy says that she feels that she has been raped - such was the degree of personal violation she experienced - with the participation of several people tearing and pulling at her body and clothes in the presence of at least two men who are seen to be closely scrutinising her - prodding and poking wth hands clad in surgical gloves. Their actions were designed to degrade and humiliate her as much as possible. If you read the article from information clearing house, you will see that the idea of rape is not mine - though I support her contention that this was a form of rape - as do other media reporters who have carried this story.

We are very good at pointing to the rights violations of women in other countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia or wherever. This is about highlighting the vicious hypocrisy of the US government and its claim to be 'spreading democracy'. This is the sort of democracy they are trying to spread and it's entirely consistent with the worsening rights violations in virtually ever single one of the countries which the US claims to have 'liberated' from tyranny.

Of course women have always been vulnerable to this form of abuse by men. All the more revolting to witness these other women 'law enforcement officers' participating in something so digusting.

by Nora Thu Feb 14, 2008 09:37 noorazao at hotmail dot com

Hillary Clinton & Obama Barack should be fighting on this issue if they care so much about women's rights as they claim they do! Those men in uniform are actually criminals, not police officers and they should be convicted. Imagine the great anguish of the woman; she should also sue the US Sheriff's office and the US govt. USA right now under the Bush regime is indeed a red-neck cowboy-style regime and practises kangaroo democracy!

by C Murray Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:25

One in four Irish people have been victims of sexual crime.

I feel that the hyperlink should have had a warning and further to that an address should have
been attached for those who would find themselves in there

http://www.drcc.ie

Like I said at the beginning, people must choose what it is that they wish to
expose themselves to and the context of the link was flawed.

the vid went up with a statment that it is 'stomach-churning'
imagine how stomach churning to be an involuntary particpant in the vid rape as a victim
or survivor of it?

there is a brutality that people find themselves exposed to on many levels.

by tomeile Sun Feb 17, 2008 13:18

Pat Pending thinks this sort of abuse might stop if tourists boycotted the U.S .There’s no hope of that Pat . It might sound crazy, but the American authorities seem to be actively trying to deter tourists from entering the country . They fingerprint you on the way in , retina scan you with their up- to-date technology , their surly immigration officers , apparently under instructions to treat everybody as liars ,order you around and shout at you if you don’t follow their instructions to the letter. It’s like they’re trying to criminalise the rest of the world . The word “tourist” sounds a little bit like “terrorist” to them perhaps.
There’s another sick police station video at the link below of a paraplegic being robustly pushed out of his wheelchair by some of Florida’s bravest - after being stopped for a traffic violation .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7248752.stm

by John Tue Apr 01, 2008 18:01 zipittydoda at yahoo dot com

Hope Steffy did authorize the release of the tape. To let others what is going on.
Rape, nothing to do with sex or penetration. It has to do with humiliation, embarrassment, degradation and control over the victim.
Hope Steffy WAS raped by the police!

If she had been the criminal, I would have protested this illegal act, let alone the fact that she was the victim!
I am doing everything I can think of to bring these criminals to justice.
I have written my Reps, their reps in Ohio, I have left messages on any boards I get on and I have sent an email out:

I just fired off a letter to the Attorney General of the US.

Heres his address:
[email protected]

And I'm not naive enough to know there isn't another side to this story either.

For a fact we can all probably guess what went down.

Hope gave the cop a hard time about the license.
Cop blows his cool and gets pissed.
Slams her into the squad and then puts her on the ground to cuff her.
Takes her to the station, goes inside to alert the others he has a trouble maker and wants to 'set her up'.
He goes back out to get her and tells her she can go home after some questions.
They do indeed get her to say something stupid.
And they get to video her while they forcibly strip her naked 'for her own safety'.
And then they leave her six hours naked in the cell and then book her, again naked, except for a vest. (Which is completely BS again.)
The crap hit the fan, and now they are trying to use the 'buddy system' to try to get away with this.

This is probably almost exactly what happened.

AND IT IS BS!! NO ONE should have to go through something like that for a misdemeanor. Let alone the victim that has been knocked unconscious. And I'm almost sure to a person that if it was anyone's wife on here, they would be going through the ceiling.

Rape & Torture of Hope Steffy:
http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=53707&sid=824...cat=2

CBS news analyzes Police abuse tapes:
http://search.cbsnews.com/?source=cbs&q=Hope+Steffy&x=0&y=0

Teen Girls Strip Searched:
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=373098&Category=1...yID=0

Four more women come foward in Hope Steffy case:
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=8424...gnews

Woman beaten off camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KM1ukwBGv4&feature=related

Illinois, USA

by John Wed May 28, 2008 14:41

Just an update for you all:

A fifth woman has come forward claiming abuse at Stark County jail. She WORKS at a medium security prison in Ohio, so I guess she knows how the "system" works. Which is why she fears reprisals against her or her family. Looks like this abuse has been going on for YEARS!!
::::::

STARK COUNTY -- A Stark County woman told Channel 3 News Investigator Tom Meyer that she was told to remove all her clothes inside the Stark County Jail after deputies made several off-color remarks.

"Elizabeth" fears reprisals for speaking out so she prefers we not use her last name.

She says a Stark County Sheriff's deputy pulled her over one night for failing to signal during a lane change. Elizabeth says she had to undergo a field sobriety test. According to the officer's incident report, she failed some aspects of the test. She was arrested for driving under the influence and taken to the station for further testing.

She was told to blow into a breathylyzer, but she suffers from asthma. When she failed to produce enough air, she says a deputy told her, "Baby we both know you can blow harder than that. She says a second deputy laughed. The officer marked her as a "refusal" for not blowing harder.

Elizabeth decided to tell her story when she saw video of Hope Steffey strip searched by both male and female deputies. Steffey was left naked in a cell for 6 hours.

When Elizabeth was told to remove all her clothes, she did so voluntarily saying she worked at a medium security prison in Ohio and knew her clothes would be forcibly removed if she failed to obey.

The incident report says Elizabeth wanted to commit suicide. But she says that's just not true. "I've never been suicidal. I'm not suicidal. I was terrified," she told the Investigator. The Sheriff's office said medical personnel decide if an inmate should be placed on suicide watch, not sheriff deputies.

Elizabeth was charged with drinking and driving, and assault for kicking a deputy. She decided to defend herself when a deputy placed his hands on her hips. She explained that she had been the victim of a sexual assault while employed at the prison.

The assault charge in the Stark County case was dropped on the condition she plead guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated. She reluctantly took the deal.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=88666

The Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFebJiiK-EU

by John Sun Oct 12, 2008 01:41

Well the CantonRep paper has posted ALL the strip video, or what they claim to have of it. Unbelievable!

Officials at Stark County & the State saying they could see nothing wrong with this video. And a few people on other sites have agreed with them!

BUT just so we’re all on the same page, lets review the video….

First of all, this video STARTS after Steffy is already forced down on the bunk. The camera operator tells investigators she doesn’t know WHY the whole recording isn’t there. And the piece that is “missing” is exactly when Steffy claimed she was never asked to remove her cloths & was assaulted by the staff. No problems with the ‘magic’ camera…RIGHT?

Plus what Swanson & the officials are saying is that not only is it ok for 8 people, men & women to be present, the men are also allowed to remove a woman’s cloths. EVEN if there are enough women there to do it.

And if a woman ‘reacts’ to being stripped by men & women, with spectators also standing there, while being videoed, the men are not ONLY allowed to RESTRAIN her, they are also allowed to pull her arms in submission holds, while yelling for her to “STOP IT”.

And then AFTER she is already stripped naked, its STILL ok for the men to put her in an arm bar submission hold, if she starts screaming while they force her crossed legs against her butt, while waiting to “change a mat”.

And its also ok for the camera, which is supposed to be on the prisoner at ALL times, to deliberately swing away so you can’t tell what they are doing to her. No problem here too RIGHT?

===== Yeah, just having a couple men TWICE her size, and a couple women, JUST restraining her isn’t enough, if she doesn’t cooperate, they can also TORTURE her into SUBMISSION. =====

And then once they leave, these “professionals” can have a good laugh…I guess they didn’t realize the camera was STILL running.

THIS is what ALL the Swanson supporters are good with…RIGHT?

Because Swanson and the “investigators” are OK with it.

The Strip Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDRsCkc-9k0

by Hubris Wed Oct 15, 2008 01:06

I agree that what happened to this lady is disgraceful

BUT - this type of stuff has been happening to Males for years. For some reason the outrage only occurs when a blonde white female is on the receiving end.

It's great that people are outraged, and maybe that outrage will result in better treatment for people in Police custody, but it does cause me to ask 'How come most people have remained silent while this type of invasive behaviour has been practised on males, of all different colours, for years?'

Maybe if people had expressed their outrage, years ago, toward such treatment for males, this incident would never have happened.

Do females have a right to expect better treatment from the authorities than males? If so, why? If not, where was your outrage over the years when it happens to males?

Or are males accused of a crime somehow more deserving of bad treatment from the authorities? Is there not a unspoken 'Well maybe he deserved it'?

Societies that allow males to be brutalised, as almost all do to some degree, cannot claim that they are outraged when it suddenly happens to a blonde white woman. Well they can claim it - but it rings hollow to my ears.

In most societies, it is males that cause most of the violence, but those very same societies brutalise their males for more often, and with greater severity, than their females. So what the hell do they expect? Those who are the victims of outrages, quiet often go on to perpetrate outrages on others. Known fact, folks.

By the time a male has left his teens he will have been on the receiving end of far more violence than almost all females will ever have experience in their whole lives.

Yet when we discuss violence in society the conversation usually only dwells on violence caused by males, not violence towards males.

One day I saw a stall at the top of Grafton street. A lady came over to me and asked that I sign her petition 'Against violence against women' -

I immediately asked her if violence against was males was more acceptable to her? A reasonable question, I thought.

She looked at me stangley and said: Of course not!

So I said 'Then how come you appear to be only concerned about violence against women?

She said: 'I'm not! But violence against women is a major problem

I then proceeded to tell her that according to all statistics I, a male, had a far greater chance of being a victim of violence then She did. and Furthermore the sign on her stall referred only to violence against women. And that I certainly could not support a petition that tried to elevate the problems of one sex at the expense of ignoring the far worse problems of the other sex in relation to being a victim of violence.

So she called me a sexist

which was pretty ironic, I thought