From Solitary Watch: Historic California Assembly Hearing on Solitary Confinemen

Via The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog:
August 26, 2011

From Solitary Watch: Historic California Assembly Hearing on Solitary Confinemen

Historic California Assembly Hearing on Solitary Confinement
Sal Rodriguez | August 24, 2011 |
More at Solitary Watch: http://solitarywatch.com/2011/08/24/historic-california-assembly-hearing-on-solitary-confinement/

In response to the statewide prison hunger strike in July, the Public Safety Committee of the California State Assembly, chaired by State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, met on Tuesday to discuss the conditions in California’s Secure Housing Units.

The hearing began at approximately 1:30 PM.

Assemblyman Ammiano opened his remarks saying, "Recent events brought these units to the forefront. we want to ensure that these units are administrated in such a manner to maximize the security of the inmates in the units, general population inmates, prison staff and the public generally."
Glenda Rojas, a family member of a Pelican Bay inmate, spoke about her cousin's experience. "The system of validation is wildly out of control," she said. She discussed how false accusations resulted in her cousin being placed into the SHU for ten months. She talked about the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation's bureaucratic delays, intimidation, and generally making it difficult to challenge the validation.

Afterwards, Earl Fears a former Corcoran SHU inmate, spoke out against the SHU. "Things that I did going to prison caused me to one time going to the SHU program...when I was in the SHU program..I felt that 'this right here has got to be crazy.' I did 18 years in and out of prison but a SHU program was the bottom of the pits...What I witnessed in this short time I feel that...when you hear a cry, a man cry, a gangster cry, a killer cry, a con and an ex-con cry, there's got to be a reason. I feel that those who started the hunger strike--they had to be willing to get their voice out for someone to hear it for someone to be willing to lay down and die just for someone to hear the situation what goes on in the SHU program they must be serious. Just small thing in the SHU program just causes people to yell or beat against the walls..."

He also condemned the practice of withholding shower and exercise privileges as punishment against inmates already in a psychologically stressful situation. He talked about how the pain of solitary confinement and not having someone to talk to leads to emotional anguish and the damage that can cause in the long-term.

"I know you said there's regulations...and that it's not everyday prisoners that are sent to the SHU program but they still are human. And someone needs to look into it."

William McGarvey, a reverend and representative of Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture, testified on the spiritual perspective and gave a history of solitary confinement and it’s roots in Quaker efforts to reform prisoners.

“Prisoners suffer and our communities suffer when prisoners…return to our communities…psychologically broken.”

McGarvey raised the placement into solitary of Native Americans and Rastafarians for refusing to cut their hair or remove dreadlocks, respectively. He also spoke about Islamophobia and how it has contributed to a ballooning solitary population in federal prisons: “60-75% in CMU’s (Communication Management Units) are Muslim.”

“[Solitary confinement results in] the destruction of the human spirit of the human spirit,” McGarvey said.

At 2:05, Charles Carbone, a San Francisco prisoner rights lawyer with extensive experience representing gang members, stated that SHU’s undermine both prison and community safety.

Carbone blasted the bureaucracy of the CDCR and in particular those tasked with reviewing the legitimacy of gang validation: “Their record of overturning those gang validation packets is next to nil.”

The presence of George Jackson’s “The Art of War” has been used to validate inmates, according to Carbone, an assertion verified by multiple people during time for public comment.

At 2:15, Craig Haney, a professor of psychology and a nationally recognized expert on solitary confinement, made several points. Officials should have known since the 1980s that a prison like Pelican Bay will “expose inmates to psychologically dangerous conditions of confinement.”

Haney quoted the opinion of Judge Henderson in the Madrid v. Gomez case: that Pelican Bay State Prison “may press the outer borders of what most humans can psychologically tolerate.”

Haney pointed out that the only human contact of inmates in solitary is the “incidental brushing up against prison guards” as they handcuff them for transport to cages for exercise.

“There is now clear and convincing evidence,” according to Haney, that the SHU model of dealing with gangs doesn’t work and may even make things worse. He cited increases in gang violence over the past few decades as indicating the ineffectiveness of SHU use in curbing such violence.

Laura Magnani of the American Friends and Service Committee then spoke. She began by quoting the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, and noted that SHU’s cost at least “twice as much” as general population.

She then read a portion of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Article 1 Section 1:

“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person...”

In the case of women, Magnani stated that segregation can be an “extreme form of oppression and trauma” particularly for women who have a prior history of abuse at the hands of men. The lack of privacy for women in institutions guarded by largely male was also condemned by Magnani.

Magnani pointed to violent cell extractions, hogtying and contraband searches as “not only violate international treaties but our own sense of human decencies.”

She went on to make various recommendations, including restoring the right of reporters to enter and interview prisoners, saying, “Free press is one of the most important safe guard against abuses.”

She also called for the implementation of limits a person can be held in isolation and encouraged constant review of whether confinement necessary.

At 2:30, Dorsey Nunn of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children/All of Us or None spoke.

He recounted a meeting with an inmate at Pelican Bay who has been in PBSB since 1988, who knew about Abu Graib abuses and questioned the difference between the torture of Abu Graib and the outrage it inspired versus the conditions of solitary confinement in United States prisons.

The inmate, an African American who, in 20 years, had only legally spoken to one other African American, had been thrown into disciplinary segregation for attempting to speak to another.

Nunn questioned the deprivation of human contact and the ability of someone to do something as simple as speak to someone of the same race.

He also challenged the validation system, notably the confidential nature of debriefings and the inability of those accused of being gang members to confront their accusers.

Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist and an authority on the mental health effects of solitary, was next. “The prisoners demands are very reasonable. They’re actually common sense.” He said the CDCR is “absolutely not” in compliance with the report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, despite claims to the contrary. “For prisoners needs to be blatantly ignored—the process has to be secret. And otherwise citizens would be upset.”

He echoed calls for lifting of the media bans.

“While the Department of Corrrections will say they are implementing changes…they actually haven’t done a thing since 2007.”

Remarking on the claims that the CDCR “need these supermax” facilities, he noted the increase in violence within the prison system. He went on to speak about Mississippi and its dramatic reduction in segregation units and the accompanies decreases in incidents.

“There needs to be conduct based assignment” in California prisons, “what we have is not conduct that gets you in there, but the assumption that you’re a gang member.”

“In any state prison system…over half of the actual successful suicides in the entire prison system involve the 2-6% that are in segregation…Suicide and acting out have their roots in the despair of segregation,” Kupers said.

“There need to be alternatives to debriefing,” Kupers stated, pointing to the high recidivism rates that result from inmates being released straight from solitary without any time spent in the general prison population.

At 2:52, CDCR officials arrived to speak and answer questions.

Scott Kernan, Undersecretary of Operations, represented the CDCR. He immediately defended the practice of segregation on the grounds that it allows CDCR to control violent gang members and that segregation is “critical” to allow other inmates to program successfully and get out.

He noted that 3,000 out of 165,000 California inmates were in solitary.

He defended segregation by noting that various courts have upheld the practice.

“What might be a human rights violation is the violence that gangs perpetuation—not segregation,” he said.

“The department agrees that we can and should make some changes to SHU policies,” he said, and stated that the CDCR and “within months not years” will make changes, primarily through the implementation of “behavior based systems.” Such a system would entail a step-down process and will encourage inmates to “earn their way out of the system.”

In response to a question by Ammiano regarding the slow speed of reform in CDCR policies, Kernan replied, “We’re going through the worst economic situation since the Great Depression”

“Are you making changes?” asked Ammiano.

“The inmates have a choice to come out of the system,” Kernan said and indicated that of those inmates who have been validated “99% of them will say you got it right. He also stated that “we will continue to have a debriefing process” and that keeping it “will not dissuade someone from getting out of the gang” as “they will be able by their own behavior work their way out of the SHU.”

In response to the confidentiality of the debriefing process, Kernan answered that “we will continue to use confidential informants.”

Regarding a question as to whether or not anonymous accusers will be given an opportunity to face their accusers, Kernan replied, “No Sir” and went on to say “we are going to make it as fair as we possibly can.”

Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner commented in response to Kernan’s remarks that “the data that we heard indicates that once a prisoner is in the SHU at Pelican Bay it is very infrequent for them to be moved out. I see a bit of a disconnect between your answer…”

Kernan repeatedly indicated that the average stay in the SHU is 6.8 years and that “what I said was that offenders in the SHU with mountains of documentation of their violations inmates involving themselves in terrible assaults on inmates and staff…”

Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell commented: “I was cautiously optimistic about hearing [what you had to say]…I have to say I am concerned, quite frankly I’m disappointed” by Kernan’s defense of the status quo.

In response, Kernan stressed the need for current standards in order to curb gang violence.

Mitchell followed up and asked if there were and checks and balances when it came to the validation process. Kernan indicated that all decisions are made within the CDCR with cooperation between prison officials and CDCR administrators, to which Mitchell responded that CDCR has more say than the judiciary.

Public Comment began at 3:34. A sample of those who spoke and what was said:

Julie Tackett spoke and told the story of Bryan. You can read more of Bryan’s story here.

James Harris of the Socialist Workers Party spoke out calling for the abolition of the SHU.

Gail Brown with Life Support Alliance stressed the need for stakeholders to be included in the process of reform.

“Hariett”, a sister-in-law of an inmate in solitary for 25 years, asked how her 65 year old brother-in-law could possibly be a gang member anymore after 25 years in solitary.

Manuel LaFontane a former prisoner stated that the CDCR’s comments before the hearing were “a smokescreen to get away with inhumanity.” He recounted an experience in prison in which a prison guard told him “We are the gang.” He left with the question: “Does the fact that we cab label someone mean we can torture them?”

Amber, sister of PBSP inmate, asserted that inmates were willing to lose their lives for what they felt was right.

Carol Travis, of Walnut Creek, who had the opportunity to interview multiple inmates at Pelican Bay described the emotional experience as “profound and surprising.”

Dolores Canales, mother of a son in the SHU for 10 years: “They do have dignity and they want to be heard.”

Some speakers described reasons for their loved ones being placed in solitary. Among them: exercising with validated gang member, and for having a book by George Jackson. Many spoke to the ease of being placed in the gang database.

A representative of the California Network of Mental Health Clients stated that “the conditions in the SHU’s are so deleterious to mental and physical health that many more people experience mental health issues in the SHU and in the community when and if they improve” and declared support for reform.

A Ventura Youth Facility parole officer pointed to the commonality of problems in the juvenile prison system and said to the assembly-members, “If you’re not compelled by the stories here I don’t know what will.”

A representative of the Critical Resistance spoke, saying “Long term broad based action necessary. We the people and residents of California… are making it clear that we want changes to the prison system….”

From California Prison Focus

a phone call---havwn’t seen in 14, haven’t talked for 2 years, only had 10 minutes to inform the death of his grandmother

A story was told of an inmate not allowed to donate his kidney because he was in the SHU—resulting in the intended recipient dying. The inmate had been sent to solitary due to possessing a book that suggested gang ties.

A member of the San Quentin Six spoke on behalf of 66-year old Hugo Pinell who has been in solitary for 40 years despite not having a disciplinary write up for over 30 years.

Public comment went on until 4:48 and the hearing thereafter adjourned.

Ammiano has said that there will be future hearings on the issues.

Statewide Mobilization and Legislative Hearing in Sacramento

Family and community members across the West Coast will mobilize to Sacramento for a rally and legislative hearing at the State Assembly. Rally starts at 11:30 am on the South Steps of the State Assembly Building. Hearing starts at 1:30 pm, room to be announced. Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition urges everyone concerned about the torturous conditions in California’s prisons to attend this hearing (more ways to support). For more information, email. For carpools from Bay Area, meet at West Oakland BART station at 10am. For more support with transportation (from the Bay Area) call 415.637.8195; (from Southern California) 714-290-9077 or email (link given above).

Sometimes I think this whole world is one big prison yard...

Dylan's song by Steele Pulse



George Jackson by Walter Rodney, on History is a Weapon

From: Workers World (Aug 14th 2011):

40 years of fighting prison slavery
By Judy Greenspan
Oakland, Calif.
Published Aug 14, 2011

The revolutionary movements abroad for national liberation and the rebellions in major urban cities in this country in the 1960s inspired a revolutionary development within the prisoners’ movement that rocked the foundations of the most repressive apparatus of the state. California’s Pelican Bay prisoners are continuing that struggle today.

This summer is the 40th anniversary of the 1971 assassination of George Jackson, a revolutionary Black leader of the struggles of California prisoners and also of the Attica Rebellion, a massive protest against the dehumanization and torture of prisoners in a New York state prison. These two events inspired the growth of the prisoners’ rights movement.

Prison authorities reacted with the proliferation of security housing units — a 23-hour-a-day lockdown for prisoners who dare to challenge the torture and brutality of the inhumane prison system.

George Jackson & the Soledad Brothers

“I could be killed tomorrow but there ... would be two to three hundred people to take my place,” said George Jackson. (Interviews with Karen Wald, May 16 and June 29, 1971)

Jackson was serving a one-year-to-life sentence in the California prisons for stealing $70 from a gas station in Los Angeles. He spent much of his time inside reading the texts of revolutionary leaders, including Mao Zedong, Kwame Nkrumah, Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap. He patiently explained his revolutionary thoughts to other prisoners.

On Jan. 13, 1970, prison guards fired into the prison yard at Soledad Prison after a fistfight broke out, killing three Black prisoners. A group of prisoners organized a hunger strike demanding justice. Three days later, the guards were exonerated in court, and within a half-hour of the court ruling, a guard was beaten and thrown from a yard tower to his death.

Jackson and two other prisoners, Fleeta Drumgo and John W. Clutchette, were charged with first-degree murder. The three men became known as the Soledad Brothers. Their case gave rise to a broad movement of support on behalf of Jackson and the other prisoners.

Six months later, when George Jackson was being brought into the Marin County Courthouse with a group of prisoners, his younger brother, Jonathan Jackson, was killed, along with two prisoners and a judge, after engineering a failed attempt to force the freedom of the Soledad Brothers.

George Jackson was assassinated by prison guards on Aug. 21, 1971, shortly after being brought to San Quentin’s Adjustment Center maximum-security unit. Prison officials claimed Jackson had a pistol hidden in his Afro.

By this time, Jackson was a “marked man.” He had already written and published “Soledad Brother,” dedicated to his brother Jonathan, which was a scathing indictment of the racist prison system. The book was widely read both inside and outside the prisons.

Jackson had fought off his attackers and opened the unit’s cell doors, freeing 26 prisoners. This uprising lasted less than 30 minutes when Jackson was shot in the back by prison guards. Six prisoners charged with participating in this uprising became known as the San Quentin Six.

Attica Rebellion in September

Jackson’s assassination ignited a wave of protests inside and outside prisons. A large hunger strike at New York state’s Attica Prison precipitated a wave of anger and organizing that led to the prisoner uprising and takeover of that prison on Sept. 9, 1971, by more than 1,000 prisoners.

“We are men, we are not beasts, and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such. ... What was happening here is but the sound or the fury of those who are oppressed,” said L.D. Barkley, one of the leaders of the Attica rebellion, as he introduced the list of demands.

The Attica Manifesto of demands included an immediate end to the pitting of one race against another by the prison administration, an end to the racial discrimination against Brown and Black prisoners by the parole board, the right to union membership and higher wages while working in the prison, and an end to the segregation of prisoners from the mainline population because of their political beliefs.

A People’s Central Committee of Black, Puerto Rican, Native and white prisoners was formed during the Attica Rebellion. Prisoners invited a group of observers to come to the prison to witness the prison takeover and to negotiate on their behalf with the prison administration. Tom Soto, a leader of Workers World Party and a founder of the Prisoners Solidarity Committee, received such an invitation and went to Attica. Moving testimonies by this united group of prisoners were heard around the world.

Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, true to his ruling-class heritage, refused to negotiate and instead unleashed a brutal and barbarous assault by an army of police, sheriffs and National Guard that killed 43 people and wounded more than 150. Frank ‘Big Black’ Smith, a leader of the rebellion who lived, called the attack, “cold-blooded premeditated murder.”

Pelican Bay hunger strike

This year’s heroic hunger strike by prisoners in California’s Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit against the torture of these isolation chambers has also inspired a rebirth of protests by prisoners and their supporters outside.

This three-week strike, which began July 1, took a tremendous toll on the health and welfare of these incredibly courageous prisoners, who were joined in solidarity hunger strikes by thousands of other prisoners, former prisoners and family members throughout California and around the country. The prisoners’ demands were simple: stop the torture of the lockdown units, stop indefinite SHU terms, and allow prisoners more visitation, adequate nutrition and access to mail and phone privileges.

The strike ended on July 20 when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agreed to “accede to a few small requests immediately ... in support of their assurance that all of our issues will receive real attention,” according to a statement issued by Short Corridor Collective, a representative of the Pelican Bay hunger strike leaders.

California SHU prisoners have issued an alert that they may be forced to resume their protest because CDCR is not moving to remedy even the smallest of their grievances. Family members, former prisoner organizers and other supporters are mobilizing to attend a California State Assembly Public Safety Committee hearing about the prisoners’ demands on Aug. 23 at the state Capitol.

In 1942, the revered revolutionary leader of the Vietnamese struggle against colonialism, Ho Chi Minh, wrote in his prison diary, “When the prison doors are opened, the real dragon will fly out.”

This year we remember the slogans: “Attica is all of us!” “Long live the spirit of George and Jonathan Jackson!” “Stop the torture at Pelican Bay and all lockdown prisons!”

Some information for this article came from the CD “Prisons on Fire: George Jackson, Attica & Black Liberation,” produced by Anita Johnson and Claude Marks in 2001 and available from Freedom Archives.

Overcrowded jails inimical to justice

From: Al Jazeera
In California, long jail sentences pack prisons, but a Supreme Court ruling and a hunger strike may improve conditions.
Rose Aguilar
Last Modified: 03 Aug 2011

The Supreme Court recently ruled that overcrowded prisons in the state, such as the one above, violate prisoners' constitutional rights [EPA]

It's been two months since a divided US Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling, which ordered the state of California to reduce its prison population by roughly 33,000. The state's 33 prisons currently hold 156,000 prisoners, nearly double the number they were designed to house.

In the 5-4 ruling, the court said that overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions violated constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment and threatened inmates' health. In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care has no place in civilised society."

In order to highlight the inhumane conditions, Justice Kennedy, in a rare move, included three photos in his opinion showing overcrowded conditions in gymnasium-style rooms and holding cells used to house suicidal inmates. Because of a shortage of treatment beds, suicidal inmates may be held for prolonged periods in telephone-booth-sized cages without toilets.

"A psychiatrist expert reported observing an inmate who had been held in such a cage for nearly 24 hours, standing in a pool of his own urine, unresponsive and nearly catatonic," wrote Justice Kennedy. "Prison officials explained they had 'no place to put him'."

Justice Kennedy also noted that California's prisons have operated at around 200 per cent of capacity for at least 11 years, as many as 200 prisoners live in a gymnasium, and 54 share a single toilet.

Inaccurate media coverage

The ruling has since received national media attention, much of it focused on the false premise that the "worst of the worst" will now be released onto the streets, looking for the next crime to commit.

On May 23, CBS Evening News anchor Russ Mitchell said the decision "could unlock prison doors for tens of thousands of criminals in California".

KTLA-TV reported that the "Supreme Court is handing a 'get-out-of-jail' free card to thousands of California convicts".

"Inmates are being ordered back on the streets because the state is chronically unable to hold them in decent conditions," said anchor Micah Ohlman. In the piece, victim's rights advocate Ana Del Rio, whose 23-year-old daughter was shot to death, said she now worries about a crime wave. "Put 'em where the Supreme Court lives," she said.

In addition to the media spreading false information, the dissenting Supreme Court Justices are engaging in predictable fear mongering. "The majority is gambling with the safety of the people of California," wrote Justice Samuel Alito. "I fear that today's decision, like prior prison release orders, will lead to a grim roster of victims. I hope that I am wrong."

Justice Antonin Scalia went further, calling the ruling "perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation's history". He wrote that many of the released inmates "will undoubtedly be fine physical specimens who have developed intimidating muscles pumping iron in the prison gym."

As Sacramento Bee senior editor Dan Morain noted in a recent piece, Justice Scalia is operating on outdated information. "Officials removed weights from the prisons in 1997."

Much of the coverage has spent more time on the dissent than the ruling itself, and fails to state that California is not giving "get-out-of-jail" cards to anyone. Beginning October 1, non-violent offenders will be sent to county jails.

'Three Strikes' law packs prisons

The conversation we're now hearing about county jails that are already overburdened fails to address the real questions. Why does the US send so many people to prison in the first place? Why are sentences eight times longer than those in Europe? We need to be talking about sentencing reform, especially for drug possession and petty theft, racism (70 per cent of US inmates are of colour), technical parole violations, and California's infamous "Three Strikes and You're Out" law, the harshest sentencing law in the country.

What should the punishment be for people like Isaac Ramirez, a man with no violent past who was charged with stealing meat, a TV, and a VCR on three separate occasions?

If it weren't for Three Strikes, he would have been charged with a misdemeanor and served a maximum of six months in jail. Under Three Strikes, he got 25 years to life. You read that correctly. Ramirez's third strike, stealing a $199 VCR from a Sears store in Southern California, got him 25 years to life. And we live in a "civilised" society?

In prison, Ramirez taught himself the law by reading books he requested from California law schools because the materials in the prison library weren't up to date. He says his lawyer "dropped the ball" on many occasions, so after a few years of constant reading, he represented himself in court and got out after serving almost seven years. He was lucky. If those law schools had ignored his request, he would probably still be behind bars. He now has to live with and try to heal from the pain and suffering he experienced. He says the state did nothing to help him make the transition.

"I served with people serving multiple life sentences for murder. I saw a lot of violence behind bars. A friend a few feet from me was shot by a prison guard. You never forget those experiences," he said. "I'm not the same person I was. My wife knows I love her, but I tend to withdraw. I missed seven years of my children's lives. They know I love them, but there's a compartment in their hearts that has been hardened and I have to work on that for the rest of my life."

Over 8,500 people have been convicted under California's Three Strikes law, which was enacted in 1994. According to Stanford's Three Strikes Project, over 4,000 inmates are serving life sentences for a non-violent third strike. People are rotting away, and, in many cases, losing their minds in inhumane conditions for stealing one dollar in loose change from a parked car, attempting to break into a soup kitchen, and possessing less than a gram of narcotics.

If you're caught with even a small amount of drugs for personal use, you could be charged with a felony. According to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), over 9,000 people are sent to California state prisons every year for drug possession, costing taxpayers $450m.

"If you made non-violent property offences and possession of small amounts of drugs misdemeanors instead of felonies, you'd reduce the annual prison population by tens of thousands and save billions of dollars," says Stephen Gutwillig, California director of the DPA.

According to California Prison Focus, California is cutting $150m from its education budget in order to pay $140m in overtime costs alone to guard thousands of prisoners with no violent write-ups or behaviour.

Many California Democrats will privately say they back sentencing reforms and overturning the Three Strikes law, but they'll never say it publicly for fear of being branded "soft on crime". Their inability to do the right thing for fear of losing the next election is ruining lives and breaking families apart. Mass incarceration has also been extremely detrimental to the economic development of communities of colour, which, in turn, leads to violence and an even larger prison population.

Protesting inhumane conditions

Prisoners and their supporters are working to break this deadly cycle. Last month, more than 6,600 inmates in 13 California prisons went on a 20-day hunger strike to protest cruel and inhumane conditions. The inmates issued five demands seeking better treatment and living conditions.

"The decision to strike was not made on a whim. It came about in response to years of subjection to progressively more primitive conditions and decades of isolation, sensory deprivation and total lack of normal human contact, with no end in sight," said a written statement by hunger strike leaders at Pelican Bay State Prison, a Northern California supermax facility where inmates live in windowless cells for years. It costs more than $50,000 a year to house these men in isolation.

"This reality, coupled with our prior ineffective collective filing of thousands of inmate grievances and hundreds of court actions to challenge such blatantly illegal policies and practises led to our conclusion that a peaceful protest via hunger strike was our only available avenue to expose what's really been going on here and to force meaningful change."

Here's how National Public Radio reporter Laura Sullivan described Pelican Bay in 2006:

"Everything is gray concrete: the bed, the walls, the unmovable stool. Everything except the combination stainless-steel sink and toilet … The cell is one of eight in a long hallway. From inside, you can't see anyone or any of the other cells. This is where the inmate eats, sleeps and exists for 22 1/2 hours a day. He spends the other 1 1/2 hours alone in a small concrete yard. You can't move more than eight feet in one direction.

"One inmate known as Wino is standing on just behind the door of his cell. It's difficult to make eye contact, because you can only see one eye at a time. Wino is a 40-something man from San Fernando, California. He was sent to prison for robbery. He was sent to the special housing unit for being involved in prison gangs. He's been in this cell for six years. The only contact that you have with individuals is what they call a pinky shake," he says, sticking his pinky through one of the little holes in the door. That's the only personal contact Wino has had in six years."

The inmates said they met with several top Corrections Department administrators and were told "meaningful changes" would be made.

Those of us on the outside have a responsibility to support and speak out for those who are being tortured on the inside. As the inmates at Pelican Bay stated, "Without the people's support outside, we cannot be successful!"

We should also pressure the media to stop the fear-mongering and address the real issues. "The media is the most important tool we have to educate the public," says Isaac Ramirez, the man who got 25 years to life for petty theft. "Our prisons are a reflection of our society. The Supreme Court decision has given us the opportunity we need to make real changes."

Rose Aguilar is the host of Your Call, a daily call-in radio show on KALW in San Francisco. She's the author of Red Highways: A Liberal's Journey into the Heartland.

URGENT: Strike may Continue

From: Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
Posted on August 3rd 2011

We received a letter from Todd Ashker, one of the hunger strike leaders at Pelican Bay, dated July 24th, 2011. He says the hunger strikers are giving the CDCR 2-3 weeks from July 20th to come up with some substantive changes in response to their five core demands. If the CDCR does not follow through, prisoners at Pelican Bay plan to go back on hunger strike. Todd writes:

“It’s very important that our supporters know where we stand, and that CDCR knows that we’re not going to go for any B.S. We remain as serious about our stand now as we were at the start, and mean what we said regarding an indefinite hunger strike peaceful protest until our demands are met. I repeat–we’re simply giving CDCR a brief grace period in response to their request for the opportunity to get [it] right in a timely fashion! We’ll see where things stand soon enough!”

We have also received information from prisoners at other prisons. Many prisoners are just now receiving letters sharing updates on the strike from July 15th. However, supporters outside prison have received confirmation that prisoners across the state are no longer refusing food since the leaders at Pelican Bay agreed to the CDCR’s offer on July 20th. According to prisoners who were striking at Centinela, the majority of hunger strikers work in the prison’s kitchen and lost their jobs for participating in the strike. Many prisoners who were coming up for review by the parole board are now worried their participation and support of the strike will result in denied parole.

These updates from Pelican Bay and Centinela mean the legislative hearing coming up on August 23rd is incredibly important, and a serious opportunity for outside supporters to apply pressure on the CDCR and state legislature to make substantial changes. Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity and hunger strike supporters throughout California are calling for a statewide mobilization to Sacramento for the Legislative Hearing, and for supporters everywhere to continue supporting the strike. Click here to hear more ways people can support the strike and statewide mobilization to Sacramento.

Hunger striker: Don’t stop pushing, pounding on the system

In: SF Bay View
August 3, 2011
by Jamal Ortiz

Greetings to you all from the brothas at Pelican Bay Ad-Seg Unit A1!

I cannot over-emphasize to all who have participated in the hunger strike – making complaints, group appeals and phone calls, writing letters, protesting or whatever other creative form of struggle we have been moved to contribute – we are keeping the momentum and pace of our advances going forward and progressive.

We cannot stop now. It will all be for nothing or a lesson of what not to do. There are many of our prison conditions which need to be reformed: the validation process, food, adequate health care, unsanitary and foul living conditions in SHU and Ad-Seg and a host of other problems.

Now is the time we need to push and pound on this system. Our collective unity and group operation is more powerful than an atom bomb.

A strong, tightly knit group of brothas who form the nucleus within the masses should formulate ideas, develop them into achievable objectives and work toward pushing and pounding the hell out of this prison system. Things don’t have to be the way they are. Don’t give up!

Revolution is not an act but it is a process that involves the actions of the masses. But the first step is establishing a strong nucleus and circle of brothas who are like minded. Once this circle is organized in lockstep order, we will be able to collectively move out and educate, influence and organize the masses.

Don’t let the California prison hunger strike and the support that flowed from various media outlets, including the Bay View, go for nothing. All prisoners are obligated to contribute in some way. Get organized, develop a plan, stick to the plan and make it happen. Don’t give up!

Send our brotha some love and light: Jamal Ortiz, K-94544, A1-118, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City CA 95531.