Prisoner
Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition
Oakland--As
the California prison hunger strike enters its 3rd week, reports of
retaliation against strikers have increased. Last week it was reported
that prison officials had moved at least 14 strikers from the Security
Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay to Administrative Segregation
(Ad-Seg), confiscated confidential legal documents, and forced cold air
into their cells. Later in the week, legal advocate Marilyn McMahon
and one of her paralegals were summarily banned from visiting any
California prison. Reports that strikers have been moved to Ad-Seg or
to entirely different facilities have also been coming from Corcoran
State Prison. The denial of medical care to strikers, especially those
with preexisting health conditions, remains a widespread concern for
families and advocates.
Meanwhile,
the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
continues to claim that the hunger strike is a massive gang conspiracy.
At the same time, the CDCR claims its SHU and debriefing programs have
been thoroughly reformed and are effective at creating safety
throughout its prison system. Please find below a point-by-point
clarification of recent claims made by CDCR spokesperson Terry Thorton
on Al Jazeera's The Stream (July 18, 2013; http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201307180008-0022916).
Thorton:
“Those who are placed [in the SHU] indeterminately, administratively,
because they have been validated as a gang member or a gang associate.”
FACT:
There is no way for a prisoner to challenge this administrative
process, or an indeterminate sentence; one of the main demands of the
hunger strikers is for a modification of the criteria for gang
validation. In fact, the recently revised criteria for gang validation
has actually expanded, making it easier for the CDCR to validate wider
groups of prisoners.
Thorton:
“Typically SHU inmates at Pelican Bay, and the other SHUs as well,
they do get out to the yard every day. They go to visiting, they have
access to the law library, they have cable television, they have access
to reading materials and educational programs too.”
FACT:
The yard is still part of sensory deprivation – prisoners have no
access to any outside recreation. The mandated hours are few and
routinely not met. Reading materials are heavily restricted and
possession of certain kinds of materials can be cause for gang
validation. There are NO educational programs in SHU. Visiting is
conducted through glass, no physical contact is permitted with
visitors, and the visiting times are very short (1-1.5 hours).
Thorton:
“And the department of correction and rehabilitation has created a
system now where inmates can get out of the SHU without dropping out of
their prison gang. They have created a step down program now where
inmates can earn their way out of the SHU. There are rehabilitative
elements in this step down program, something the department never had
before in all the decades it has been dealing with the issue of prison
gangs. The department’s efforts have been primarily focused on
enforcement, and now we have rehabilitative elements, interdiction
elements in the way we manage gangs and we implemented these reforms
last October.”
FACT: There
is no guarantee of release from the SHU – even upon completion of the
step- down program. The step-down program can still take more than 5
years and can still result in an indefinite SHU term. From Pelican Bay
SHU prisoner Antonio Guillen, "The step down program is a deliberate
attempt by CDCR to deceive the public into believing that real change
is under way. In truth, however, there is absolutely no change to the
validation process (which is the origin of the indeterminate SHU
sentence) and the policies and regulations that make up this abhorrent
practice remain intact."
Thorton:“If
an inmate is validated as a gang associate, and there is no confirmed
disciplinary behavior with a nexus to gang activity, that inmate is not
going to be automatically put in the SHU anymore. We’ve done case by
case reviews; hundreds of people have gotten out of the SHU.”
FACT:
If the new policy is genuine, those who have been isolated without
disciplinary charges should be placed back in general population
immediately. Releasing 208 out of 12,000 people from isolation into
general population hardly indicates a good-faith effort to introduce a
new program.
Thorton:
“Absolutely there needs to be discussion and engagement, there also
needs to be some acknowledgment about the progress, the reforms that
the department has instituted as well. We have let hundreds of people
out of the SHU, we are hoping to a quick resolution of this mass hunger
strike because unfortunately the staff resources to manage this hunger
strike safely have all been diverted away and we have had to
temporarily halt our case by case reviews of validated inmates, which I
find really unfortunate.”
FACT:
a quick resolution of the strike would be good faith and binding
discussions and engagement with the prisoner representatives in all the
prisons. Honest negotiations would lead to an immediate
implementation of reforms. As the CDCR is mired in numerous lawsuits
regarding human rights violations--medical negligence, overcrowding,
inadequate mental health services--outside oversight and intervention
is crucial. California Governor Brown's silence on the strike is
unfortunate given his unique position to be able to compel change in
one of the world's most notorious prison systems.
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