* The Belleville News Democrat reports on a blockbuster prisoner lawsuit about alleged brutality by “an elite, mobile Illinois Department of Corrections tactical unit” known to inmates as “Orange Crush”…
Members of the tactical unit begin the tactic by running onto a prison tier when female guards are sometimes also present, “whooping,” banging on metal tables and shouting to prisoners: “Get butt-naked.”
The guards do this, according to the lawsuit, while dressed in orange fatigues, wearing helmets, carrying clubs and chanting “Punish the inmate. Punish the inmate.”
Hundreds of prisoners at a time were marched in this way in April of 2014 at four Southern Illinois prisons while being threatened by laughing guards who shouted they would be taken immediately to solitary confinement if they allowed any daylight between themselves and the man in front of them, the plaintiffs’ lawyers allege. Prisoners were eventually led to an exercise area and made to stand for hours with their faces pressed against a wall while their hands were cuffed behind them in a “stress” position. During this time, other members of the guard unit searched the prisoners’ cells for contraband.
“This is above and beyond what I’ve seen ever in the 35 years I’ve been doing this kind of work,” said civil rights attorney Alan Mills of the Chicago-based Uptown People’s Law Center, one of two law firms pressing the lawsuit. “This is part of some official policy. Higher-ups in IDOC will have to explain what in the world they were thinking when they gave these people this kind of direction and leeway.”
Mills said the practice continued on at least a few occasions after the lawsuit was filed in 2015.
Federal Judge Staci Yandle recently allowed the lawsuit to continue and ruled against two motions presented by the attorney general.
* In a follow-up editorial the paper called for an immediate investigation and a fix for this alleged craziness…
This practice being carried out in front of female corrections officers and accompanied by whoops and pounding metal tables is a scene out of a bad movie. There can be no purpose other than to sexually humiliate the inmates.
Remember the last group engaging in that behavior? They were U.S. soldiers holding inmates at Abu Ghraib in Iraq who outfitted the inmates with dog leashes, women’s underwear and shrouds as they were hooked to fake electrocution devices.
Our state owes compensation, safety and respect to its correctional officers. They in turn owe us professionalism in how they exert power and to curb their own sense of entitlement so it does not extend to fake workers’ comp claims that give them fancy bass boats or to sadistic shows that give them a sense of superiority.
They also owe their fellow correctional officers a safe work environment. Since when does punishing a group of inmates for the violence of a few do anything but build a large reserve of resentment?
Agreed.
- Fusion - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 9:52 am:
What are we? A third-world country?
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 9:53 am:
There was a DOC commenter on this blog named Orange Crush back in 09.
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 9:55 am:
No, Fusion, we’re a first-world country that exports some of its worst ideas to developing nations.
- Fear And Loathing In Rochester - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 9:56 am:
I imagine Phillip Zimbardo would probably have some interesting things to say about this.
- VanillaMan - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:02 am:
Governments shouldn’t be allowed to sexually humiliate the citizens they work for.
- Generation X - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:04 am:
Maybe we should wait until a finding on the merits prior to passing judgment.
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:07 am:
That’s the job of the federal judge.
The rest of us, in whose names all or part of these alleged acts have been committed, are not so constrained.
- Dilemma - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:09 am:
I heard far too many stories of behavior of law enforcement and prison guards to dismiss them all as the fantasies of defendants who are just hoping to get special treatment.
Every judge knew which officers/deputies were bad, and they would comment on who likely caused the injuries they would see during first appearances.
- Generation X - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:10 am:
Yes wildly uninformed opinions about topics are always wise.
- SO IL M - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:16 am:
And you actually believe this heaping pile of manure? Yes IDOC Tactical Units have been involved in mass shakedowns since 1996. And inmates have been exagerating and telling outright lies about these shakedowns just as long. This is more of the same thing from Mills and his pet Mouse.
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:36 am:
The suit was filed almost a year ago. If it were a “wildly uninformed” “heaping pile of manure,” it would be gone by now.
- Chilly Willy - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:38 am:
Alan Mills stirs up garbage all the time.
- Ghost - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:41 am:
not to let the facts stand in the way of a good lie, but thats all false. Ever see the lawsuit rate from doc? its playing the lottery for them. the orange crush only are used with dangerous inmates who refuse to leave cells and create dangerous conditions. they are never ised as described.
now some inmates strip down and throw feces to complicate cell extractions. but they dont take people out naked.
- Duck Duck Goose - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:44 am:
When you take the most vicious, predatory, antisocial, immoral and dangerous human beings that the State of Illinois can produce, and confine hundreds of them together in one place, there are going to be problems. Very big, very dangerous, very difficult problems. There is no nice clean, sterile way to deal w/ some of these issues. Just like there is no painless way to remove a tumor; there is no cozy, perfectly politically correct and comfortable way to deal w/ all of these issues. Anyone that has worked in one of our maximum security prisons knows what I am saying here. The “Orange Crush” is often the difference between people dying or staying alive.
The public servants that work in these prison environments are mandated secure and protect the very same people that society at large has chosen to lock up because they (the incarcerated) are deemed “not fit” to be loose in a normal society.
I take my hat off to those that are willing to risk the danger of rushing into a cell of an offender that has weapons or toxics, or, taking control of a riotous dining room full of strong angry offenders. They do this to keep the people Illinois as safe as possible. There are no easy or gentle ways to deal w/ some of these people. If these inmates were decent and easy to get along with, they would be our neighbors, living and working in our communities.
Those that have not had feces and urine thrown on them or been assaulted by shanks that are fashioned out of plastic tableware etc. really cannot understand the job that is done by “Orange Crush” or the need for them to do that job.
- Ahoy! - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:46 am:
I hate to open a can of worms, but I wonder what AFSME is going to do and how much they will try to protect the guard who did this.
- cdog - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:47 am:
Where are the cameras? Turned off? Un-repaired.
Regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit(s), there are obviously people that should no longer be employed by the State Of Illinois.
Simple either/or. The “orange crush” is either on camera doing this, or the supervisors in the prison are negligent or conspirators in equipment failure.
Do your job people and quit trying to make the world suffer so much injustice.
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:49 am:
If IDOC doesn’t want its garbage stirred up, it should take out the trash already.
- Mason born - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 10:52 am:
Cdog
There is a third option what if it never happened?
- In_The_Middle - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 11:05 am:
Has to be video somewhere.
- Freezeup - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 11:20 am:
I am not willing to assume that the claims are true just because it has been claimed in a lawsuit. And just because an attorney says it happened doesn’t mean it happened.
Too much of this doesn’t sound right to me. Chanting punish the inmate? Why….?….
I can assure you that I know first hand that criminals say the darnedest things.
If I.D.O.C. has proof that this did not happen, (they might), they should get it out immediately. In 2016 the traditional snail paced response to claims of abuse or brutality is not acceptable.
It’s a shame that cops and corrections are in the position of proving to the public that they are the “good guys” but it is what it is. Time to adapt.
- Truthteller - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 11:24 am:
I’ll believe it when I see it
- cdog - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 11:27 am:
“Federal Judge Staci Yandle recently allowed the lawsuit to continue and ruled against two motions presented by the attorney general.”
As a completely fake-Lazy-Boy-lawyer-ette, I would be interested enough to read the complaint and the motions. If it is online, does anybody have a link?
- A guy - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 11:32 am:
Ick.
- Keyser Soze - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 12:15 pm:
If even a fraction of this is true, the Orange Crush bunch should be put on immediate suspension, pending dismissal, if not criminal charges. My father’s outfit helped liberate a concentration camp in post WW II Europe. He told me what he saw. So, I am very sensitive to this sort of thing. The group think that causes people in power to behave this way needs be nipped in the bud.
- NoGifts - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 12:37 pm:
It seems like it should all be recorded on the CCTV system and pretty easy to determine whether it happened?…..
- Former Inmate - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:03 pm:
I am a former inmate who was incarcerated for a white collar financial crime at a downstate minimum security prison. I was released in the last 2 years. I didn’t see this exact kind of behavior, but I can tell you that I did see Orange Crush do very similar things. The screaming, the whooping, banging on tables, intimidating, sacrastic comments. It all happened and not at a max or medium. At a minimum. During one Orange Crush shakedown, a non-violent prisoner with cerebral palsy asked the guard a question about whether he should empty his foot locker on his bunk. He was literally dragged off (he couldn’t walk fast enough for Orange Crush because of the effect of the CP on his legs) in cuffs and held in segregation for 10 days. I can understand the need for some of these intimidation tactics in the max joints. In the minimum, its nothing more than an unnecessary exercise and an expensive one that leaves behind a trail of problems (like calls to lawyers) for the regular staff to try to mitigate. I’m not here to be whiny about prison. Its not supposed to be fun. I got what I deserved (probably better than I deserved.) But much of what I saw during my time there was appalling, appallingly stupid, appallingly illegal and most frequently, an appalling waste of taxpayer money.
- Thoughts Matter - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:14 pm:
There was a prison tactical unit known as Orange Crush. They did rush in and search entire cell blocks, screaming at and terrorizing prisoners that hadn’t been accused of doing anything wrong and writing them up for infractions for not reacting quickly enough to follow their instructions. I heard about it at the time. I didn’t hear about marches, and sexual humiliation- but my source wouldn’t have wanted to tell me about it. The incident I heard about was prior to April 2014, nor was it in a prison that far south.
- Nunya - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:18 pm:
From the article:
“The IDOC needs to quickly investigate these claims and fix problems found within Orange Crush. That is more important than insulating the department from this lawsuit”
Sounds like it’s assumed by the author (as well as other commenters on this blog) that there *are* problems. I mean inmates never lie, so why waste time with an actual investigation to determine if it’s true or not? /s
- Thoughts Matter - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:18 pm:
Former Inmate - I think we are citing the same situation. Logan when it was a male inmate facility?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:19 pm:
Some of you IDOC folks are getting awful defensive about this topic.
I’m not sure if you realize what that looks like to people on the outside. You’re not helping.
- Huh? - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:20 pm:
CCTV has a funny way of having an intermittent malfunction at the time these events may have occurred. Same with the video tape - erased, taped over, lost what ever.
Given human nature, it would not surprise me if this occurred in the Illinois prison system.
- Qui Tam - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:21 pm:
It must be alright, Lisa Madigan supports it. /s
- NoGifts - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:25 pm:
When we privatize the prison system, we won’t have these problems. /s
- Former Inmate - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:41 pm:
The incident I described was at Taylorville. There were very few cameras there and none in the housing units.
- Thoughts Matter - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:45 pm:
Former inmate - thank you. My source is currently at Taylorville. We are speaking about the same incident. I just didn’t remember where my source was at the time of it. Inmates move as their remaining time reduces.
- yinn - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:48 pm:
“On a number of occasions, I have overheard prisoners expressing a great amount of animosity toward the groups of Orange Crush. Much of this is due to the fact the bright orange jumpsuits have come to symbolize brutality, oppression, and large scale theft. The Orange Crush is notorious through the IDOC’s 50,000 prisoners, although mainly in maximum and medium security prisons…The weapons the Orange Crush have on their belts are also a source of anger. No one wants to be under the continuous threat of being beaten with a bat or maced. Many prisoners I know thought about taking these weapons and using them against their captors.” ~ Paul Modrowski, “Orange Crush Security,” On the Inside Blog, October 2013
http://paulmodrowski.blogspot.com/2013/11/orange-crush-security-october-5-2013.html
- Mason born - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 1:49 pm:
As for cctv most facilities in the state do not have cctv to the best of my knowledge. Which wouldn’t that also be humiliating to have the camera film you in every action you do in your bedroom/bathroom? The tactical teams usually use a camcorder as insurance.
Rich
It’s not hard to see the impression the piece is trying to portray with the Abu Ghraib comparison. If this happened as described then there should be severe repercussions. However there are a lot of things that are highly improbable chief among them the idea that inmates would be marched unsecured to a different area to be secured. It’s kind of like your Worst. Analysis. Ever. story it seems plausible if you have no other data points to compare it to
- NoGifts - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 2:04 pm:
@Mason born I mean the public areas - doors, hallways, dining and recreation areas should have cameras. The orange crush would have to move through those spaces. I’m not saying a camera looking individual cells.
- Shanks - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 2:38 pm:
I highly doubt anything close to this even happened, inmates con, they will get their stories straight,and bam….Only thing I do not get is that there seems to be no video.
- Team Warwick - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 2:46 pm:
Im horrified. How does this tactic teach inmates to become law-abiding, boundary-respecting human beings after their release? I understand unannounced block searches for contraband. But this weirdo tactic is just sick in the head?
- Mama - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:01 pm:
++SO IL M -@ 10:16 am: “And you actually believe this heaping pile of manure? Yes IDOC Tactical Units have been involved in mass shakedowns since 1996. And inmates have been exaggerating and telling outright lies about these shakedowns just as long.“ ++
SO IL M – what if the inmates are telling the truth about the sadistic shows? There needs to be an investigation. If it proves false, you have nothing to lose. If it is true, people need to be fired!
- Anon - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:08 pm:
I guess this is an example of how your hiring practices and your policies can cost you tens of millions of dollars in the long run.
- Mama - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:18 pm:
++- Former Inmate @ 1:03 pm: I am a former inmate who was incarcerated for a white collar financial crime at a downstate minimum security prison. I was released in the last 2 years. I didn’t see this exact kind of behavior, but I can tell you that I did see Orange Crush do very similar things. The screaming, the whooping, banging on tables, intimidating, sacrastic comments. It all happened and not at a max or medium. At a minimum. During one Orange Crush shakedown, a non-violent prisoner with cerebral palsy asked the guard a question about whether he should empty his foot locker on his bunk. He was literally dragged off (he couldn’t walk fast enough for Orange Crush because of the effect of the CP on his legs) in cuffs and held in segregation for 10 days. I can understand the need for some of these intimidation tactics in the max joints. In the minimum, its nothing more than an unnecessary exercise and an expensive one that leaves behind a trail of problems (like calls to lawyers) for the regular staff to try to mitigate. I’m not here to be whiny about prison. Its not supposed to be fun. I got what I deserved (probably better than I deserved.) But much of what I saw during my time there was appalling, appallingly stupid, appallingly illegal and most frequently, an appalling waste of taxpayer money. ++
Former Inmate, What is the point of Orange Crush? Was the abuse cause by only a few or many guards? How often was Orange Crush carried out where you where imprisoned?
- Menard guy - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:19 pm:
I am cracking up at how appalled everyone is that these guys are beating metal tables and securing inmates while they find and remove weapons from their cells. I am NOT DOC, but I have been around it enough to know what type of people these guys are dealing with. Do you think they are all non-violent white collar types with cerebral palsy? Sorry “former inmate,” but I’m sure there’s more to that story. I can’t find a reason to even care about this story, because so far we’re only getting one side of it with an obvious agenda. In this day, when cops are being indicted right and left, do you really think the FBI would turn a blind eye to this? Not a chance. The majority of prison inmates are gang-affiliated offenders who try their best to get correctional officers’ names, addresses, and any other personal info they can. The correctional officers are caught between them and a prison administration that in the past has been filled with political appointees who cater to the gangs inside their facilities. We need more orange crush, not less of it.
- Nunya - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:25 pm:
=Some of you IDOC folks are getting awful defensive about this topic.
I’m not sure if you realize what that looks like to people on the outside. You’re not helping. =
Not sure if you’re referring to me or not, but for the record: I do not work (nor ever worked) for IDOC. I do find it troublesome that some persons are very quick to pronounce judgement with less than the full set of facts (not just in this case, but in any case where allegations are made). I’d like to know more before I indict. That’s just me, I guess.
That said - This needs to be investigated. Just because it’s an inmate(s) who make the allegations doesn’t mean it’s NOT true, either.
- Former Inmate - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:42 pm:
I can only speak to Taylorville. It is specifically a non-gang related facility. Inmates were screened by IDOC and investigated to determine that they did not have gang affiliations before being admitted. I saw Orange Crush about twice a year while I was there. Inmates do not speak out about this or most anything else that occurs because of fear of retaliation. Inmates live in a place where everything that happens to them, especially their access to the outside world is controlled by IDOC — with very few cameras watching. Under those types of situations, retaliation is very easily done. I was lucky. Nothing happened to me. Others were not.
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 3:55 pm:
For those who need to “do more investigation,” here is the complaint:
http://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/PC-IL-0033-0001.pdf
==How does this tactic teach inmates to become law-abiding, boundary-respecting human beings after their release? ==
That is no longer the point of prison in Illinois, if it ever was.
- Payback - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 4:34 pm:
How many DOC employees are Iraq and Afghanistan theater veterans who learned these methods in the military?
In the Army the Military Police are the most disliked people in the service. Many footlockers were broken into and personal gear stolen in the First Gulf War circa 1991. Investigations usually came up with MPs as the thieves in my experience.
The job attracts bullies. Think Ernest Borgnine as Sgt. of the Guard Judson in From Here to Eternity with his switchblade.
- SO IL M - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 4:42 pm:
Rich—point taken. It does get frustrating how many people are so quick to believe things like this.
Mama—Any use of force incident is investigated. I am willing to bet this incident was as well. There are a lot more complaints filed than there are actually true.
Crazybleedingheart—Thank you for posting the link it was interesting to read it. One thing worth noting is that the inmate who filed the suit often cites “information and belief” which means it is his statement and there is no proof to support it. It was also good to see who the inmate is who made the allegations.
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 4:47 pm:
== It was also good to see who the inmate is who made the allegations.==
Ominous.
- Union boss - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 5:20 pm:
This lawsuit is hogwash, being trumped up by a local newspaper to sell copies and levied by a lawyer that would be better served if he cared for the real life issues that face troubled teens and children prior to their induction into IDOC. No money there though.
- Nunya - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 5:28 pm:
=For those who need to “do more investigation,” here is the complaint:=
Thanks for posting. My point is/was: We now have the plaintiff’s case information (or IOW half of the story.) An objective investigation would include a response/rebuttal to the charges. It may be as bad as alleged, but it seems premature to assume that is the case without *all* of the available information surrounding the case, which would include evidence and rebuttal by those accused.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 9, 16 @ 11:56 pm:
The legacy of Pat Quinn and his enablers, still being revealed.
- Shanks - Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 5:25 am:
I really doubt any of this happened…at all. Inmates will do anything they can to get a free buck, but this seems like a load of BS. When the “orange crush” shows up, there are a lot of supervisors that are involved. This is just another scam to get money from the govt.
- Javier - Wednesday, Feb 10, 16 @ 9:30 am:
The source of the frivolous lawsuit should be considered. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Demetrius Ross K52284. The following is from the Quad City Times “Demetrius Ross, and Ishmail Spraggins, were charged with Muriel’s murder. Authorities found Muriel’s body bound with duct tape and wrapped in a blanket inside a running car on a Rock Island street. He had been beaten, burned with hot metal and zapped with a stun gun. His right thumbnail was torn off and that thumb was broken.
Also, his face was cut with a knife, his arm cut with a round object and he was stabbed in the back. He finally was shot three times in the head, as well as in the abdomen, left forearm and heart. Medical testimony at the trial indicated that his other injuries occurred before the fatal gun shots.
Demetrius Ross, who was 28 at the time, pleaded guilty in November 1996 to first-degree murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison.”
- cdog - Thursday, Feb 11, 16 @ 10:05 pm:
Just read the complaint. Wow, talk about a bad organizational culture.
Even if the above post about the plaintiff is true, two wrongs don’t make a right.