By Carey L. Biron
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/california-prisons-violating-hunger-strikers-rights-groups-warn/
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/california-prisons-violating-hunger-strikers-rights-groups-warn/
WASHINGTON, Jul 23 2013 (IPS) - As
a mass hunger strike in the California prison system enters its third
week, advocacy groups are warning that prison officials attempting to
break the strike are breaching international human rights standards.
As of Monday, 986 inmates in 11 California state prisons were
considered to be on hunger strike, according to the state Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Starting on Jul. 8, some 30,000
inmates in 33 jails began refusing food in protest against what they
describe as the inhumane use of long-term solitary confinement.
Although this is the third such hunger strike in the California
prisons since 2011, the current situation has involved more inmates and
gone on for longer than previous such protests. The five central
demands of the current strikers can be found here,
foremost among which is ending long-term solitary confinement, which
has constituted a key part of the state’s crackdown on prison gangs.
In attempting to stem the current strike, CDCR officials have
recently stepped up a disciplinary campaign, including placing striking
prisoners in even more restrictive isolation. Amnesty International, a
watchdog group, is now warning that the CDCR has “breached
international human rights obligations by taking punitive measures
against prisoners on hunger strike over conditions”.
“Prisoners seeking an end to inhumane conditions should not be
subjected to punitive measures for exercising their right to engage in
peaceful protest,” Angela Wright, a U.S. researcher for Amnesty
International, which has previously offered extensive
reporting on the California prison system, said Monday.
Wright’s colleague Justin Mazzola told IPS, “At this point, further
restricting these prisoners violates their right to challenge this
treatment, placing them in a situation that is even less accountable
than the indefinite isolation they’ve previously experienced. Placing
prisoners in even more restrictive settings shouldn’t be the response
to what they’re doing: calling attention to the conditions in which
they’re being held, as well as to proposed reforms.”
On Jul. 11, CDCR officials released a statement noting that it is a
violation of California state law for inmates to participate in any
“mass disturbance” or refuse a work assignment. Any participating
inmate would thus be disciplined by being placed in an “administrative
segregation” unit, the statement warned.
Hunger-strikers have since suggested
that prison officials have engaged in “retaliation”, including being
put in the more restrictive administrative segregation, which the
strikers say includes “more torturous conditions” than their previous
isolation. Activists have also previously alleged that strikers are
experiencing limits on their correspondence with lawyers and the
confiscation of certain personal effects.
“Bear in mind that in prison you don’t have the same right to
expression as in the outside world – that’s the point of prison, it’s a
sanction for criminal behaviour,” Jeffrey Callison, press secretary for
the CDCR, told IPS.
“That being said, the prisoners do have the ability to make known
their concerns about conditions. There are formal mechanisms by which
to file complaints, which are all read. Whenever a prisoner raises a
legitimate issue, it’s fixed.”
Callison says that reports that striking inmates have had their
legal access limited are false, stating that only a single lawyer has
been temporarily barred from entering the Pelican Bay detention centre,
where the current strike began, though the reason for this is
confidential. He also notes that another allegation – that prisoners
have been “blasted with cold air” at the PelicanBay facility – is
impossible given that the centre has no air conditioning.
Indefinite isolation
California has relied on an aggressive programme of “isolated
housing” since the 1980s, after experiencing the growth of some of the
United States’ first and most notorious prison gangs. In an attempt to
neutralise the gangs, inmates thought to be gang members were moved to
isolation in so-called Special Housing Units (SHUs).
Yet critics have pointed out problems with a system in which inmates
could be put in isolation merely upon being accused of gang affiliation
by another inmate. Further, until a pilot project was implemented last
year, those accusations could not be challenged and the identity of the
accuser was kept secret.
Today, around 12,000 inmates are reportedly being held in isolation
at any given time, with hundreds of inmates having been in indefinite
isolation for the past decade or more, according to advocates. Inmates
in solitary confinement in California receive around an hour of outdoor
time per day and no direct human contact.
Multiple groups contend that indefinite isolation constitutes cruel
and inhumane treatment, and thus breaches international rights
obligations. That view has been corroborated by the United Nations,
whose special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, in 2011 stated that
solitary confinement of longer than 15 days should be “absolutely
prohibited” due to its scientifically proven potential for lasting
psychological damage.
Last week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
reiterated its support for this stance, expressing its “concern” over
the causes behind the California hunger strike and the “excessive” use
of solitary confinement in the United States more generally.
“The IACHR reiterates that the prohibition of torture and cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment may not be abrogated and is
universal,” the said. “Accordingly, the [Organisation of American
States] Member States must adopt strong, concrete measures to eliminate
the use of prolonged or indefinite isolation under all circumstances.”The 35-member Organisation of American States, based in Washington, includes the United States.
‘Step-down’ reforms
The years of protest against the SHU system did eventually receive a
policy response from the California prison system, including
recognition that the gang-affiliation accusation system was dangerously
inflexible.
In October, the CDCR instituted a series of initial reforms,
including a “step-down” process for inmates who show they’re no longer
engaging in gang-related activities. Through late June, the CDCR says
it has reviewed some 382 cases, transferring 208 inmates out of SHUs
and placing another 115 inmates in the step-down programme.Still, critics suggest that the programme is too protracted, particularly for inmates who may have been in isolation for a decade or more.
“We of course welcome anything that gives prisoners the right to challenge the indefiniteness of their solitary confinement and the solitary confinement itself, but this is a very prolonged process,” Amnesty International’s Mazzola says.
“As it’s currently set up, it would take almost two years before an individual who starts the programme would even be taken out of the SHU. So that doesn’t really address the basic concerns here.”
Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit, filed in May 2012 on behalf of several SHU inmates, is scheduled to be heard in early August.
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