The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 79/No. 33      September 21, 2015

 
(front page)
Calif. prison suit registers gains
against solitary confinement

 
BY BETSEY STONE  
OAKLAND, Calif. — The fight to end the inhuman conditions faced by thousands of prisoners held in solitary confinement got a boost with the settlement of a class action lawsuit filed by prisoners at the Pelican Bay State Prison in California in 2012.

The settlement, if fully implemented by prison authorities, will effectively end indefinite long-term solitary confinement in California and dramatically reduce the number of prisoners in isolation.

“We would not be here without the leadership of the prisoners,” Anne Weills, an attorney in the case, told a rally and press conference that announced the settlement outside the State Building here Sept. 1.

The prisoners who brought the suit were leaders of three hunger strikes, the last of which, in 2013, grew to include more than 30,000 people and put a national spotlight on the conditions prisoners face in solitary.

As of 2012, more than 500 prisoners had been isolated for more than 10 years in the Security Housing Units in Pelican Bay; 78 for more than 20 years, including some of the plaintiffs.

Prisoners in the SHU are kept in windowless 8-by-10-foot cells 23 hours a day, allowed out only for solitary exercise periods. They are not allowed phone calls, except in emergencies. Visits are “non-contact” via a glass barrier.

The settlement grants a central demand that prisoners no longer be placed in solitary based on accusations of gang affiliation or their political ideas and interests. Up to now inmates could be “validated” as gang members merely on the basis of a supposedly gang-related tattoo, possession of a book, letter or piece of art or on the word of another prisoner. Review for possible release to general population took place only once every six years.

In order to be released from the SHU, they were required to “debrief,” that is finger others as gang members — a divide-and-rule practice calculated to increase tension and violence between prisoners.

The settlement stipulates that solitary confinement will be imposed for specific acts and for a fixed length of time, although existing rules continue to include riots or strikes as well as violence and weapons possession as SHU-eligible violations..

Prisoners now in solitary as a result of gang validation will receive a review within one year. Almost all prisoners who have been in solitary more than 10 years will be immediately released to general population facilities, and no more prisoners will be held in the SHUs at Pelican Bay for more than five years.

When those still in solitary complete their terms, they will be put into a two-year program of easing restrictions before returning to the general population, instead of the previous four-year process.

Prisoner representatives and their lawyers will meet with prison officials and the judge to oversee implementation of the settlement.

Violation of constitutional rights

The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the plaintiffs, argued that solitary confinement is contrary to the Eighth Amendment that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and that prisoners were denied due process when placed in solitary at the discretion of prison authorities.

At the news conference, Marie Levin, the sister of Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, read a statement signed by her brother and nine other prisoner-plaintiffs that called the settlement “an important step toward our goal of ending solitary confinement in California, and across the country.”

The statement pointed to an agreement signed by hunger strike leaders in 2012 to end violence between ethnic groups in the prison as a foundation of their movement.

“It is our hope that this groundbreaking agreement will inspire not only state prisoners, but also jail detainees, county prisoners and our communities on the street, to oppose racial and ethnic violence. From this foundation, the prisoners’ human rights movement is awakening the conscience of the nation to recognize that we are fellow human beings.”

“We recognize that achieving our goal of fundamentally transforming the criminal justice system and stopping the practice of warehousing people in prison will be a protracted struggle,” they wrote. “We are fully committed to that effort, and invite you to join us.”

“This is only the beginning,” Dolores Canales, a leader of California Families Against Solitary Confinement and mother of a prisoner in Pelican Bay, told those at the rally.

“The prisoners themselves have been impacted by the fight,” Lupe Reynoso, whose son was recently released from solitary, told the Militant. “In my son’s case, he told me one day he was no longer a racist. It shows what can happen when there is unity.”

The Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition continues to organize protests on the 23rd of each month. For information visit: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com  
 
 
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