My request to visit the United States of America has been pending for five years over the terms of reference in order to obtain access to all places of detention.

Juan Mendez

Categorized in : US News

It's hard to tell only from the video or the press coverage but I do think that it's a very worrisome development that can amount to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under any circumstance....

First scrap the PTA, eliminate prolonged detention without trial in various forms, establish mechanism for real judicial and prosecutorial control over police investigations and things along those lines.

The Bush administration itself had withdrawn the torture memos when it was discovered that these things were happening as a matter of policy, even the Republican administration had already recognized that these things are illegal.

They are illegal as a matter of international law, they are illegal as a matter of constitutional law in the United States, they are illegal as a matter of military law...and they are immoral anyway.

I hope that President Obama's pledge to reform the criminal justice system regarding the practice of prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement is implemented without delay.

The U.S. leads the pack by a long, long shot. by Juan Mendez

The U.S. leads the pack by a long, long shot.

On the federal level, I want to go to ADX in Florence, Colorado and to the Manhattan Correctional Center, those are where people accused of terrorism are taken or where they serve their term.

The numbers are staggering but even worse is the length of terms...It is not uncommon for people to spend 25, 30 years and even more in solitary confinement.

But it's still no meaningful social contact. by Juan Mendez

But it's still no meaningful social contact.