The ACLU of Southern California has sent letters to the Presiding Judges of both the Municipal and Superior Courts of Los Angeles County calling on the courts to ensure that judges or other court personnel will terminate use of stun belts to punish or subdue non-threatening defendants.

On June 30 Long Beach Municipal Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassini ordered a bailiff to send 50,000 volts of electricity through a bound defendant because he was talking too much. The ACLU joined a national and international coalition of human rights activists who demand that this inhumane practice be ended, once and for all.

Letter sent to Los Angeles County Municipal Court Presiding Judge Veronica S. McBeth and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert W. Parkin follow:

"On June 30 Long Beach Municipal Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassini ordered a bailiff to send 50,000 volts of electricity through a bound defendant because he was talking too much.

"The ACLU Foundation of Southern California calls on the Court to ensure that this inhuman practice be ended at once and the use of electro-shock belts as punishment be forever banned.

"As you are aware, these belts were originally designed to control physically violent defendants for whom no other means of restraint by law enforcement agents was possible. Their use must be restricted solely to those rare instances when a defendant becomes violent and threatens the physical safety of court personnel and the public, and law enforcement has no other means to restrain the person.

"There are other obvious and tested solutions to behavior that is disruptive but not physically threatening. Defendants or others who interrupt court proceedings may be removed from the courtroom and even required to view the proceedings by video.

"Under the VIII Amendment to our nation's constitution we are forbidden to inflict `cruel and unusual punishment. . .' Use of the electro-shock belt as punishment for disruptive behavior is not only cruel and unusual but macabre, and coverts our courtrooms into modern day torture chambers. Meeting out punishment via the shock belt also constitutes an obvious and egregious violation of a defendant's right to due process."

"We seek an assurance from the Court that, with the sole exception of controlling a physically violent defendant who poses an imminent and extreme threat to public safety, use of the electro-shock belt will be banned from the courtrooms. Please be advised that without such representation, we will have no recourse but to litigate the practice immediately."

On June 30 Long Beach Municipal Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassini ordered a bailiff to send 50,000 volts of electricity through a bound defendant because he was talking too much.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California joins today's coalition of national and international human rights activists who demand that this inhuman practice be ended, once and for all. We demand that the Los Angeles County Superior and Municipal Courts ban these electro-shock belts which are nothing more than modern-day versions of Medieval torture devices. They have no place in our current criminal justice system.

There are other obvious and tested solutions. Defendants or others who are disruptive may be removed from the courtroom and even required to view proceedings by video.

Under the VIII Amendment to our nation's constitution we are forbidden to inflict "cruel and unusual punishment. . ." This macabre device is cruel and unusual and converts our courtrooms into modern day torture chambers.

To inflict a 50,000-volt shock to a defendant for interrupting a judge is as outrageous as it is uncivilized. The setting here is an American courtroom, not a sadistic psychology experiment. To allow this type of punishment to continue will damage us as a society, and make the Bill of Rights nothing more than an old piece of paper under glass with no substance. That cannot be allowed to happen.

Unless we receive an assurance from the court within a reasonable period of time that such punishment will be banned from our courtrooms, the ACLU is prepared to go forward in court to stop this barbaric practice.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, in cooperation with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, is filing an amicus brief on behalf of a 17-year-old gay man who fled to the United States from Mexico after being subjected to repeated beatings and harassment by Mexican police and others.

On at least two occasions, Geovanni Hernandez-Montiel was raped by Mexican police. At another time he was attacked and beaten by others, yet the police did nothing to help him.

After fleeing to the United States, Mr. Hernandez-Montiel applied for asylum with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), explaining that he feared for his life and that his own government would not protect him. For asylum to be granted, an applicant must demonstrate that he fears returning to his country of origin due to persecution arising from his membership in a particular social group. The Board of Immigration Appeals denied his application, a ruling which is presently before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

Taylor Flynn, ACLU/SC gay and lesbian rights attorney, said "Mr. Hernandez-Montiel was repeatedly harassed, beaten and rapedincluding by the police who are supposed to protect himsimply because he is gay. Neither the police nor any other governmental official has taken a single step to protect him. To deny him asylum is to subject him to further rapes, beatings, and may ultimately cost him his life. I cannot imagine a clearer case for granting political asylum." A hearing date for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has not been set.