Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Says Apparent
Photo of Undressed Prisoners Is "Unacceptable"

by Ken Sanes
February 25, 2000

The Texas department of criminal justice plans to look into how a photograph that appears to show Texas prisoners in the nude ended up on the web site of Amnesty International USA. Larry Todd, a public information officer for the department, said they were "disappointed" to learn about the photograph and called it "unacceptable" and "dehumanizing to the inmates".

"It is extremely poor taste and it is not anything that we would have released." Todd said.

The photograph appears on a web page titled "Torture and abuse of prisoners" under the larger headline, "Rights for All." It shows what appear to be undressed prisoners from above and behind, walking in a line while guards stand on the side, as they go by. The caption says "Prison guards monitor inmates during a 'shakedown' (a mass search for contraband items) in Ellis 1 Unit in Huntsville, Texas."

A column criticizing the use of the photograph first appeared Feb 19, in Reform magazine, under the title "Amnesty's Error". The article appeared with a version of the photograph in which the image of the prisoners is obscured.

But Todd said he isn't yet certain if the scene is of prisoners at the Ellis Unit state prison, outside Huntsville, Texas, as the caption claims. He said the hats the guards are wearing in the photograph look like cowboy hats, whereas the hats that guards actually wear look like baseball caps. When asked, Todd left open the possibility that it might be an older photograph. Other possibilities -- that it might be another prison or a scene from a movie or television -- can't be completely ruled out at this time.

Todd however said the procedure that is shown is something that might take place at the prison where searches for contraband that require prisoners to remove their clothes are common.

"The scene certainly could have occurred while they were exiting the inmates from the cell block," he said in a telephone interview. "You have to empty a cell block quickly if you are going to search for contraband."

If the photograph is authentic, the next obvious question is -- how did Amnesty get a hold of it? Was it taken by a security camera, by the media or by a staff member or prisoner? Was it released by anyone connected to the prison? And can prisons guarantee that other prisoners aren't being photographed? Todd said the Ellis Unit wouldn't allow journalists to photograph a situation like this.

Todd also responded to the headline -- "Torture and abuse of prisoners" -- that appears on the Amnesty International page in proximity to the photograph: "We don't torture prisoners, we don't abuse them," he said. Other than the photograph and caption, the page doesn't actually refer to the prison.

A spokesperson for Amnesty International USA was unable to provide information on the photograph before this story was posted. But it is apparently intended to expose the violation of prisoners' rights involved in requiring them to be paraded in this fashion without clothes. The original story that appeared in Reform magazine questioned whether Amnesty had not itself violated the prisoners' rights, if the photograph is what it claims to be and there was no consent. 

Journalists can obtain the Internet address of the Amnesty page with the photograph from Reform at editor@transparencynow.com . It isn't being released to reduce any invasion of privacy.

The prison is part of the Texas department of criminal justice, which is overseen by a governing board of unpaid members who hire an executive director. The members are appointed by the Governor and, according to a state spokesperson, all current members were appointed by Governor George W. Bush, now also a candidate for president in the Republican primaries.

The prison is referred to as the Ellis Unit. The name "Ellis 1 Unit", which appears in the caption of the Amnesty web page, is no longer used, Todd said.

Amnesty's Error