Tasers do have potential to provide additional protection for the staff and officers during altercations, involving both inmate on inmate, and inmate on staff assaults. Proper training and following of protocol can reduce the abuse of these tools. However, the policies set for proper usage are exempt from public examination so we cannot know what the standards are. Additionally, the MDOC has a track record of covering for their own ,so abuse that does occur is unlikely to be corrected, or disciplined. There is a significant lack of accountability.
I personally have observed tasers being used to break up a fight between two inmates with nothing more than a one-second warning before being discharged into an inmate. Hardly enough time for a response by the inmate.
There is little evidence that the use of tasers has reduced the rate of injury to either inmates or staff during altercations and recent data published by MI-Cure http://www.mi-cure.org/node/1 seems to indicate that the use of tasers has made no difference at all.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of all is that the state of Michigan signed a contract for inmate phone services that more than doubled the per-minute rate of phone calls for inmates and their families specifically to include a surcharge to pay for the tasers and other 'tactical gear' for corrections officers. This was despite a Michigan law that prohibited the use of 'surcharges' on inmate phone rates, a law the MDOC apparently believes themselves to be above.
According to my own observations, taser use is much more prevalent in the higher security level prisons. It was nearly a weekly occurrence in the level four prison I was housed in, but since coming to a lower level (level II) I am aware of only a few uses in the nine months I've been here thus far.
I'm not entirely opposed to tasers being used in prisons, but there needs to be more transparency and accountability, and the MDOC needs to bear the burden of the cost, not pile it on the backs of inmates and their families. Phone calls are an essential part of maintaining a connection with family and the community which is proven to reduce the rate of recidivism. The higher costs of phone calls has a significant impact on a prisoner's ability to stay in touch.
