Tasering of restrained inmates videotaped

SANTA ANA, Calif., Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Videotapes show corrections officers at a Southern California jail used Tasers on inmates who had already been restrained, a report said Friday.

The Orange County Jail is already under investigation over allegations that a fatal attack on an inmate in 2006 was instigated by a sheriff's deputy who told other prisoners he was a child molester. The videotapes of the taserings were released by lawyers representing the inmates, who claim excessive force, the Orange County Register reported.

In one tape, a Taser is used on a woman arrested on a drug charge. She had been restrained with "wristlocks" and was lying on the floor on her stomach at the time.

Another inmate, who had pushed his way out of a cell, was electrically shocked while confined in a restraining chair and had a mask over his face to prevent him from spitting.

Orange County deputies are allowed to use Tasers on prisoners who have been restrained because the devices, which send 50,000 volts into the person being stunned, are deemed to cause no permanent harm. Amnesty International, which tracks Taser use, says that at least 300 people around the world have died after being stunned.