Typically, prisoners are held in small windowless cells for between 22 and 24 hours a day. It is time that the USA lived up to its commitments and took steps to eradicate torture and ill-treatment from its penal system. It has repeatedly proclaimed its commitment to human rights at home and abroad. The reality for many in the USA can be very different. For the poor, for Latinos, blacks and other minorities, justice and equality are often denied, the right to life and liberty frequently abused.
Police brutality is a daily occurrence.
Ill-treatment, even torture, takes place in prisons across the country. Condemned prisoners are executed after unfair trials. The US authorities have failed to stamp out these widespread violations of human rights. The US government uses the language of international law, human rights and democratic values to justify its policies. Yet the USA has often been reluctant to allow its own record to be scrutinized by the international community and has been selective in its defence of human rights abroad, keen to criticize its enemies but less willing to speak out about abuses by its allies.