美国国家公共电台 NPR--Federal Bureau of Prisons is closing its deadliest unit over violence, abuse reports

Federal Bureau of Prisons is closing its deadliest unit over violence, abuse reports

Transcript¹

Following reporting by NPR and the Marshall Project, the Federal Bureau of Prisons cites a culture of abuse in shutting down one of the deadliest prison units in America.

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

The special management unit at the Thomson Penitentiary² in Illinois is one of the deadliest prison units in America.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Which we know because of reporting by NPR in conjunction with The Marshall Project. Now, because of those dangerous conditions, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is shutting this facility down.

KHALID: NPR investigative correspondent Joseph Shapiro helped uncover what was happening at Thomson, and he's here with us now. Good morning, Joe.

JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE³: Good morning, Asma.

KHALID: So, Joe, remind us what your reporting discovered.

SHAPIRO: Well, we found that Thomson, which is the newest federal prison, had quickly become, as you said, one of the deadliest. Five prisoners killed, two suicides in just two years. And by the way, there was another death just this month.

KHALID: Oh, wow.

SHAPIRO: And our reporting focused on the cause of this violence, which was a culture of abuse by staff that the Bureau of Prisons says is the reason that it's now shutting down this unit. And this is reporting I did with Christie Thompson of The Marshall Project. A key moment to our reporting came when a prisoner named Demetrius Hill sent us a note that he'd witnessed one prisoner attacking and killing⁴ another. And...

KHALID: Oh, my gosh.

SHAPIRO: ...That the attacker, he had warned the guards he was going to kill his cellmate, a small man named Bobby Everson, who was known as Loopy. And even on the night of the killing, he said he was about to kill Loopy. And our eyewitness⁵, Demetrius Hill, says the corrections officer said, go ahead; just do it. And here's tape from Hill when we got to speak to him from prison.

DEMETRIUS HILL: To force this kid in a cell with this mad man, they knew the result. He had just beaten another prisoner who had been in the cell with him. I'm talking about maybe two weeks, maybe two weeks prior, another prisoner - I don't know his name - and he was beating that inmate⁶ for days on end. Days on end he was beating that prisoner. Finally, they took him out and stuffed Loopy in there.

KHALID: Wow. A very powerful story, Joe. I mean, after all of your reporting, there were calls for investigations⁸ from Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, as well as human rights and religious groups. Where did all that go?

SHAPIRO: Well, the inspector⁹ general for the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation⁷, and so did the Federal Bureau of Prisons. And now the BOP says it found persistent¹⁰ problems with what it called institutional culture and compliance¹¹ with BOP policies - in other words, problems that were so deep, so rotten, that they couldn't even be fixed¹². There's a new director at the Federal Prison Agency, Colette Peters, and this is one of her first big moves.

KHALID: So what happens next, Joe? I mean, my understanding from your reporting is that this unit was supposed to be the place within the prison system that housed some of its most dangerous inmates¹³. So where do they go?

SHAPIRO: That's right, Asma. The special management unit was set up to separate men who created serious problems at other prisons. They were leaders of prison gangs. They were violent. Although in our reporting, we talked to men who didn't seem to fit that description. Maybe they had untreated mental illness. The mother of one man killed at Thomson said he'd ended up there because he'd filed complaints against guards at another prison after they'd forced him into a fight with members of a white supremacist gang.

It's been seven years since Christie Thompson and I wrote our first stories on these federal special management units. And first, we reported on abuse at the unit at Lewisburg, Pa., and shortly after that, Lewisburg was shut down. We followed up to see what happened to the men who were moved from Lewisburg to Thomson. And we'll keep watching.

KHALID: NPR investigative correspondent Joseph Shapiro. Thank you very much.

SHAPIRO: You're so welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF KENSUKE USHIO'S "LIVINGROOM")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 penitentiary   

n.感化院；监狱

参考例句：

• He worked as a warden at the state penitentiary.他在这所州监狱任看守长。
• While he was in the penitentiary her father died and the family broke up.他坐牢的时候，她的父亲死了，家庭就拆散了。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

6 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

9 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

10 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

11 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

12 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

13 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》