Amnesty International has called on the US government to ban the use and export of a remote-controlled electro-shock stun belt for prisoners that has just been introduced. AI said the belt appeared to be designed to degrade and torture prisoners "at the push of a button".
The Remote Electronically Activated Control Technology (REACT) belt inflicts a powerful electric current through the wearer's left kidney which then passes through the victim's blood and entire nervous system. The shock causes severe pain and incapacitation in the first few seconds.
The REACT belt has been proposed for use on prisoners working in chain gangs in Wisconsin, and is now increasingly being used on prisoners during judicial hearings. Both of these uses are in direct contravention of international standards on the treatment of prisoners, AI said.
"Given the willingness of US companies and the US government to approve the sale of electro-shock technology to other states where there is clear evidence of the use of this type of equipment to torture prisoners, we are also extremely concerned that these belts will now fall into the hands of torturers", AI added.
Literature distributed by the belt's manufacturers crudely boasts of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment: "... if you were wearing a contraption around your waist that by the mere push of a button in someone else's hand, could make you defecate or urinate yourself, what would you do from the psychological standpoint? Wearers are warned that the belt could be activated, from a distance of up to 300 metres, after any outburst or quick movement ..."
Neither the manufacturers nor authorities using the belts have conducted independent medical studies of effects on humans of the belts. Data from other electro-shock weapons indicate that the high pulse 50,000 volt shocks, lasting eight seconds at a time, could result in long-term physical and mental injuries. Despite this, it is reported that the US Bureau of Prisons, as well as the US Marshals' Service and more than 100 county agencies, have obtained belts, as well as 16 state correctional agencies.