US govt probes NY prison on videotapes related to abuse

The US Justice Department is investigating a New York prison on its failure to submit hundreds of videotapes related to the abuse of detainees put into custody after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Inspector General of the Justice Department Glenn Fine said Monday in a report to Congress that the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York failed to turn over the tapes during a 2003 investigation into the alleged abuse of detainees and the tapes have not been found until this February.

The tapes contain recordings of detainees' conversations with their lawyers, and a lawsuit is now pending against prison officers for taping conversations that were assured to be confidential.

Fine said, with the evidence from the tapes and the review of the staff's treatment of the detainees, the Justice Department maintained the original findings that there was some abuse by some employees at the New York detention center.

Fine said his office will continue to look into the prison's failure to hand in the tapes in 2003.

Source: Xinhua