USE OF FORCE VIDEOS

Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s (TDCJ) Use of Force Plan defines ‘use of force’ as:

“A controlling measure taken during a confrontational situation in an effort to cause an offender to do anything involuntarily. Uses of force are categorized as either Minor, Major or Deadly.”

If the “confrontation” is classified as “major”, TDCJ officers will record their actions on videotapes that are called Use of Force Videos (UFV) and will be allowed to use chemical agents (OC and CS gas), repressive instruments and offensive physical treatment and language.

As the Use of Force Plan states, the procedure will only be classified as “major” if the offender physically resists. Robert Will, and other DRIVE comrades, conduct non-violent actions like sit-ins and the refusal to leave a certain area to protest the inhuman conditions under which inmates at the Polunsky Unit live, and against the Death Penalty.

Robert Will has conduct numerous protests, of which we have three Use of Force Videos: from June 2004, November 2005, and August 2006. The latter two are posted on this website and the former is posted on Rob’s old website (www.robwill.org). Rob does not attempt to hurt any officers in either of them but he is severely gassed and assaulted by the riot team. The video taken on August 22, 2006 clearly shows the excessive quantity of chemical agents that are used directly on inmates’ faces and sensitive parts of the body causing them injures that are not properly registered.