And they are similar, too, to the images of brutality against Iraqi prisoners that this week led to the conviction of three British soldiers.
But there is a difference. These prisoners are not caught up in a war zone. They are Americans, and the video comes from inside a prison in Texas
They are just some of the victims of wholesale torture taking place inside the U.S. prison system that we uncovered during a four-month investigation for Channel 4 that will be broadcast next week.
Our findings were not based on rumor or suspicion. They were based on solid evidence, chiefly videotapes that we collected from all over the U.S.
In many American states, prison regulations demand that any "use of force operation", such as searching cells for drugs, must be filmed by a guard.
The theory is that the tapes will show proper procedure was followed and that no excessive force was used. In fact, many of them record the exact opposite.
Each tape provides a shocking insight into the reality of life inside the U.S. prison system - a reality that sits very comfortably with President Bush's commitment to the battle for freedom and democracy against the forces of tyranny and oppression.
In fact, the Texas episode outlined above dates from 1996, when Bush was state Governor.
Frank Carlson was one of the lawyers who fought a compensation battle on behalf of the victims. I asked him about his reaction when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke last year and U.S. politicians rushed to express their astonishment and disgust that such abuses could happen at the hands of American guards.
I thought: "What hypocrisy," Carlson told me. "Because they know we do it here every day."
All the lawyers I spoke to during our investigations shared Carlson's belief that Abu Ghraib, far from being the work of a few rogue individuals, was simply the export of the worst practices that take place in our domestic prison system all the time. They pointed to the mountain of files stacked on their desks, on the floor, in their office corridors - endless stories of appalling, sadistic treatment inside America's own prisons.
Many of the tapes we've collected are several years old. That's because they only surface when determined lawyers pries them out of reluctant state prison departments during protracted lawsuits.
But for every "historical" tape we collected, we also found a more recent story. What you see on the tape is still happening daily.
It's terrible to watch some of the videos and realize that you're not only seeing torture in action but, in the most extreme cases, you are witnessing young men dying.
In one horrific scene, a naked man, passive and vacant, is seen being led out of his cell by prison guards. They strap him into a medieval-looking device called a "restraint chair". His hands and feet are shackled, there's a strap across his chest, his head lolls forward. He looks dead. He's not. Not yet.
The chair is his punishment because guards saw him in his cell with a pillowcase on his head and he refused to take it off. The man has a long history of severe schizophrenia. Sixteen hours later, they release him from the chair. And two hours after that, he dies from a blood clot resulting from his barbaric treatment.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
