Legal Commentary

LA Jail Getting Pain Causing Device to Use on Inmates

By Jeralyn

Unbelievable, but true. At 7.5 feet tall, the
"Assault Intervention Device" is the hottest new non-lethal weapon out there. And it's coming to a jail in LA.

What does it do? It shoots out rays that cause extreme, unbearable pain.

The 7½-foot-tall Assault Intervention Device emits a focused, invisible ray that causes an unbearable heating sensation in its targets – hopefully stopping inmates from fighting or doing anything other than trying to get out of its way, sheriff's officials said.

The device, unveiled Friday at Pitchess Detention Center, will be mounted near the ceiling in a dormitory housing about 65 prisoners, according to Commander Bob Osborne of the Sheriff's Department Technology Exploration Program.

It's intended use: To break up fights between inmates.[More...]

"We hope that this type of technology will either cause an inmate to stop an assault or lessen the severity of an assault by them being distracted by the pain as a result of the beam," Osborne said. "So that we have fewer injuries, fewer assaults, those kinds of things."

It takes only a few seconds to feel the pain:

The device is controlled by a joystick and computer monitor and emits a beam about the size of a CD up to distances of about 80 to 100 feet. The wave travels at the speed of light and penetrates the skin up to 1/64 of an inch.

"If you got in the way, you'll know...You feel the effect in less than a second. No one can stand there for more than about three seconds because it really hurts."

There are plans to use the device on a nation-wide basis:

The device is being evaluated for a period of six months by the National Institute of Justice for use in jails nationwide to curb inmate violence, and it was installed at no cost to the Sheriff's Department.

The device is made by Raytheon, you can read about it here.

Active Denial 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.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 24, 2010 (boomark / email).