Prison to use 'excruciating' laser pain ray to control unruly inmates



An advanced laser weapon that feels like a painful blast of hot air is to be used in a US prison to break up fights for the first time.

The Assault Intervention Device fires a focused beam of energy at the target which authorities hope will stop prisoners fighting as they scramble to get out of the way.

Prison officers have even tested the non-lethal weapon on themselves and say it is excruciatingly painful.



A seniron police officer aims the Assault Intervention Device (AID) with a joystick during a demonstration on Friday

Nonlethal weapons like 'pain rays' and Tasers are controversial and usually criticised by human rights groups who fear that they can be misused and could even be fatal if used on vulnerable people.

The device is controlled by a joystick and computer monitor and emits a beam up to 100 feet. The wave travels at the speed of light and penetrates the skin up to 1/64 of an inch.

Targets instinctively move out of the beam’s way to try and escape the pain.

Commander Bob Osborne of the Sheriff's Department Technology Exploration Program said: ‘We hope that this type of technology will either cause an inmate to stop an assault or lessen the severity of an assault by them being distracted by the pain as a result of the beam.

'I equate it to opening an oven door and feeling that blast of hot air, except instead of being all over me, it's more focused,’ he said.

‘And you begin to feel this warming feeling, and then you go 'Yow, I need to get out of the way."'

The device will be mounted on the ceiling at Pitchess Detention Centre at Los Angeles County Jail, which houses around 65 prisoners.

Prison officers say it should reduce injuries by speeding up the time it takes to break up a fight.

'This device will allow us to quickly intervene without having to enter the area and without incapacitating or injuring either combatant,' said Sheriff Lee Baca in a statement.

Mike Booen, vice president of advance security at Raytheon, which developed the device said: ‘If you got in the way, you'll know.

'You feel the effect in less than a second. No one can stand there for more than about three seconds because it really hurts.’

The device works in a similar way to Raytheon’s Active Denial System which was mounted on a Hummer and was sent by the US military to Afghanistan to break up crowds.

It has since been withdrawn.