We were told that the pain ray was going to be used in other countries. Then, we were told it could be used here for crowd control. Now, it’s being tested for use in the Castaic jail in Los Angeles.

The 7½-foot-tall Assault Intervention Device emits a focused, invisible ray that causes an unbearable heating sensation in its targets – hopefully stopping inmates from fighting or doing anything other than trying to get out of its way, sheriff’s officials 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,” Osborne said. “So that we have fewer injuries, fewer assaults, those kinds of things.”

Deputies have tested the device on themselves and say the beam is painful – especially when it’s not expected.

Gee, ya think? After all, it says pain ray right in the product’s name.  We’re using on prisoners though, so it’s okay.

“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.

“If you got in the way, you’ll know,” said Mike Booen, vice president of advance security at Raytheon, which has been working on the device for about 20 years. “You feel the effect in less than a second. No one can stand there for more than about three seconds because it really hurts.”

“With this device, we can affect people that we need to have experience that effect and not have anything happen to other people,” Osborne said. “And there’s nothing to clean up, and no injuries.”

If there are no injuries, why was it recalled from military use and never actually used? Have the police done any research on this device to see what it actually does to an individual or did they just see it as an easy way to control people and didn’t care about the consequences?