Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Tales from the Dark
A friend forwarded a link to me this morning - Drug Bust Jails 22 Innocents - and I read it with much interest.
The author, A Better Malaysia, relates his account of the days he spent in jail following a drug raid at a local club. A Better Malaysia was eventually proven innocent based on drug tests from the hospital, but along with the other 22 innocent "victims", endured much cruelty and experienced first-hand, the corruption and operations of our friendly neighbourhood coppers.
I've heard countless of such stories before and those who've been in, you know, jail, or police lock-ups, have told me it's very ugly in there.
Stripping you off your dignity (and also stripping you literally, for the men usually), mocking and insulting, abusing and handcuffing you like a convicted criminal (eventhough no evidence or court hearing has been conducted), the extortion, the bribes you pay to make "your first phone call", to have a cigarette, to have a drink of water, and of course plenty more.
Read the blog to find out more though.
I also remember a friend who told me of this one incident which happened to him many, many years ago. He was in highschool then, and was eventually proven innocent because they finally caught the real baddies. He was suspected of setting fire to a classroom in their school and brought to detention at a police station.
Police brutality is nothing new I reckon. But my friend was about 16 then, and legally, a juvenile. He was of course slapped and punched during the interrogation and insults and accusations were hurled at him. At one point, the police emptied out the contents of his wallet and found a condom in there. So it's not uncommon for a teenage boy carrying a condom around. They of course started teasing him about the condom, and instructed him to unwrap the condom and fill it up with water. When he came back with the water-filled condom, they made him sit and proceeded to slap his face around with the condom repeatedly.
It IS comical to imagine someone being slapped around the face with an inflated condom filled with water, but then you think again, and well... it is, to put it bluntly, disgusting.
Anyways, what disturbed me about the whole "Drug Bust" story was the fact that heck, it could be you or me in there! What if I'm out on a weekend partying at a local club and getting drunk, and the next thing I know, after passing urine into a container and (if) failing the initial tests (which we all know is quite common because God knows the accuracy of these tests!), being herded onto a truck and handcuffed all the way to the police station and wait for the judgement, not knowing what is to happen, and how long it will take!
Aah.. don't we just love tales about our friendly neighbourhood coppers?
Posted by Doreen at 1:38 pm
