The video obtained by Hope Steffey's lawyer and released to the public represents only a fraction of Hope's actual torture by the Stark County sheriffs department in Ohio. The video is difficult to watch, but it's very important for people, particularly Americans, to know that this outrageous crime has taken place in their country. The legal outcome of this case could determine what kind of country the United States becomes. If this level of injustice and brutality towards American citizens by their own law enforcement agencies and legal system is condoned and not corrected, the real possibility of humiliating and painful torture exists for all Americans.
There is a short scene in the video near the beginning of Hope's ordeal which takes place in a cell where she is later tortured unspeakably. In this short scene Hope is naked lying face down diagonally across an eight- inch thick concrete sleeping platform which is partially coved by a blue blanket. It appears that the women deputies have all left the cell. A male deputy has Hope's left arm twisted behind her back forcing her down on the platform, but she pushes herself up with her right hand and looks to her right, seeing only men around her, she screams in fear. This scene has been spliced in with the other scenes of Hope's cruel torture to make it appear as though her tormentors occasionally stop inflicting pain on her. In the scene Hope appears defiant, up on one hand screaming, and the men standing around her, touching her, haven't started hurting her yet. In reality there is no such respite. Once the torture begins it is constant, unrelenting, and brutal. The State Torture of Hope Steffey
