Supreme Court upholds ruling to reduce California prison population

Supreme Court upholds ruling to reduce California prison population

Groups demand population reduction measure, not costly jail construction
by Lisa Marie Alatorre
SF Bay View, aMay 23rd 2011

Oakland - This morning the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed a previous court order requiring the state of California to reduce dramatically the number of people in its horribly overcrowded state prison system. The long awaited ruling came in the conjoined Plata and Coleman cases on the terrible health and mental health conditions caused by severe overcrowding in California state prisons. California will have two years to reduce overcrowding by 46,000.

“This landmark decision opens an important new chapter in California’s long struggle over whether to expand or contract our bloated prison system,” says Emily Harris, statewide coordinator for Californians United for a Responsible Budget or CURB, a broad statewide coalition working to reduce the number of people in California’s prison system.

Read the rest here.

Pelican Bay SHU Hungerstrike starts 1st of July 2011

From California Prison Focus:

Five Core Demands *** Formal Complaint

April 25, 2011

Dear Supporters of Prisoner and Human Rights,

On July 1, 2011, between 50 and 100 prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison in the Security Housing Unit (SHU), Corridor D, are going on an indefinite hunger strike. The D corridor (also known as the "short" corridor) has the highest level of restricted incarceration in the state and among the most severe conditions in the nation. The rules of their confinement are extremely harsh in order to force them to "debrief" or offer up information about criminal or prison gang activity of other prisoners. Most inmates in the SHU are not members or associates of prison gangs, as the PBSP staff claims, and even those who are put their lives and the lives of their families and other prisoners at risk if they debrief.

Using conditions of severe mental and physical harm in order to force prisoners into confessing is torture! Many debriefers simply make up information about other prisoners just to escape the isolation units. This misinformation is then used to validate other prisoners as members or associates of prison gangs who in reality have nothing to do whatsoever with gang activity.

California Prison Focus recently interviewed some of those who are leading this hunger strike and we will be taking a number of key steps to publicize this event. This widespread hunger strike has the potential to become the most significant event in California prison reform in the last decade. Public support is crucial. Please stay in touch with California Prison Focus and other prison organizations who are supporting this hunger strike.

Attached are two documents. The first lays out the five core demands of the hunger strikers. The second is their formal complaint which outlines how the conditions of their imprisonment constitute human rights violations and violate both US and international law.

In support,

California Prison Focus