"Act Up and Find Out" -- An Eye Witness Account of Taser Violence and Intimidation in the Santa Clara County Jail

Editor's Note: Despite broad opposition from the community, in October of 2025, the Santa Clara County approved a pilot program proposed by the Sheriff's Office to arm a portion of correctional officers in the jail with Tasers, with the aim to ultimately arm all officers. Even though the weapon would be used on incarcerated individuals, there has been no inquiry by the board as to what those inside jails think about this policy, and what their perspective is of how it is being deployed. Below is a rare eye witness account by a formerly incarcerated person sharing what it's like for people facing CO's now armed with Tasers. Based on his request, the author's name has been removed to protect his anonymity.

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(Graphic by Angel Luna)

I humbly come before you with this missive to express my continued worry for the population currently incarcerated at Santa Clara County Main Jail. I was housed in this county jail for close to 2 years. I was transferred from C.D.C.R to the county jail in May of 2024 and was placed in 4A2 where I spent 10 months before being down classed to 7A where I remained until I was resentenced and released early this year.

Now my concern comes from what I witnessed first hand while at this county jail, specifically with the use of tasers by Correctional Officers (CO). While I was housed in 7A, I began to notice COs carrying tasers next to their pepper spray canisters. When I asked what that was all about, I was told by a CO that it was part of a pilot program being conducted at the jail. As he told me this, he smiled and said it’s to keep you and your people in check; to which I responded by asking him “in what way and what do you mean by my people.” He responded by saying “act up and you will find out.” Now the CO was trying to make a joke about it, but I took it as a real concern.

From my understanding this pilot program is being conducted with the belief that it’s for the safety and security of staff and incarcerated individuals by deterring violence and or being able to bring an altercation to an immediate stop. Myself, along with many others that have personal knowledge of how these tasers are being used, believe that not only do they not deter violence (because many altercations still took place), but it was also seen how these tasers are being used against incarcerated individuals as another weapon to try to control and intimidate everyone with fear! 

"you can clearly see where a CO points the taser to the back of one of the guys, but instead of shooting you can see the green light from the taser move down to the butt area and then it is shot. At this time all the COs started to laugh and began to make jokes about the incident."

While housed in 7A, I witnessed 4 incidents where tasers were used on individuals during incidents. I saw how the person being hit with the taser would just go stiff and drop without being able to protect themselves from not only the fall but also from becoming a victim from other individuals. When hit with the taser individuals become vulnerable, unable to protect themselves from being attacked, which happened in each of the 4 incidents I witnessed. When the guy was tased the other individual jumped up and began to attack him. Not only that, but in 3 of the 4 incidents, I saw the individual as they dropped hit their heads hard. I believe that this could cause more harm than good. Also in all of these incidents pepper spray was also deployed, so I really do not see any purpose for these tasers other than to give the COs another weapon to intimidate the population in this county jail. It also gives the COs something to laugh about later. I make the last comment because I recall being out doing programming one evening and I saw a few COs around the computer screen watching body camera footage of an incident that had taken place in 7C. It was a fist fight between 2 individuals and on this video you can clearly see where a CO points the taser to the back of one of the guys, but instead of shooting you can see the green light from the taser move down to the butt area and then it is shot. At this time all the COs started to laugh and began to make jokes about the incident. 

One thing that I will also note is that in all the incidents that I saw, not once was a weapon being used for it to be considered a violent altercation. Also, even after the taser was used, pepper spray was still used. So it is my belief that tasers are just another weapon the COs are using in this county jail for control and intimidation and not for safety and security as it is being promoted as.

Before being released, I did not notice that more COs were being armed with tasers, and in my opinion some of these COs shouldn’t even have pepper spray, let alone a taser.

Because of what I saw and the conduct of these COs at this main jail, I do believe that things will only get worse if tasers become a permanent thing. This is why, I continue to worry about the incarcerated individuals at Santa County Main Jail. I hope for the safety and security of everyone that this pilot program does not become implemented permanently.

In closing, I would like to express my gratitude for allowing me this opportunity to speak on this issue and express my concern with the tasers and this pilot program. Thank you.