Steven Holt: “Indeed, this is becoming the standard of interrogation. The video recording is inexpensive, easy to use, and it helps.…”

“Indeed, this is becoming the standard of interrogation. The video recording is inexpensive, easy to use, and it helps. My amendment would also afford access to prisoners by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture. The electronic recording of interrogations is a concept that has been endorsed by multiple domestic and international organizations. In 1998, the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations strongly recommended that interrogation of suspects in police custody and substitute prison be strictly monitored and recorded by electronic means. In 2004, the American Bar Association urged all law enforcement agencies to videotape the entirety of custodial interrogations of crime suspects. Hundreds of DAs and prosecutors use these techniques. Today, the ACLU noted in their endorsement letter of this amendment that it would increase the accountability for compliance with the McCain antitorture amendment. Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch expressed similar statements in their endorsement letters, and I will include in the Record these letters of endorsement from Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, and the ACLU.”