Thursday, November 20, 2008



Cheney and Gonzales indicted

For prisoner abuse, even. Sadly, it relates to prisons in Texas, not Guantanamo Bay:

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

[...]

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.

I have no idea whether these charges will stick, and there seems to be a dubious political situation around them. At the same time, its nice to see someone is taking on the US private prison system and holding it - and its corporate officers - to account.