I support the hunger strike because it
is an act of resistance by those the system has cast off as less than
human and unworthy of human dignity. The hunger strike/work stoppage is
a call to action that crosses racial and geographical lines against the
torture tactics the California Department of Corrections &
Rehabilitation (CDCR) is inflicting on those it holds in Administrative
Segregation (Ad-Seg) and in the Security Housing Unit (SHU). It is also
a call to action against the validation process, a racist policy that
is used to justify the placement of our brothers in the torture
dungeons of Ad-Seg and the SHU.
The methods used to justify the long-term solitary confinement of
our brothers are based on policies that identify imprisoned people as
members or associates of a prison gang through the validation process.
Institutional Gang Investigators (IGI) must provide three sources of
evidence that indicate association or membership. Under the validation
process IGI has up to 1500 ways to label someone a member or associate
of a prison gang and they can range from:
Confidential informationTattoosDrawingsPhotographsBooksLetters family and friendsLegal materialNewsletters/magazinesVerbal or written communication with other inmates
I speak from personal experience and what I want to tell you is that
the validation process is part of a racist and oppressive system that
criminalizes the culture, the ethnic and political identity of those
who are targeted for validation. Having spent 7 years from a 15-year
prison sentence under solitary confinement in Ad-Seg and the SHU I have
witnessed numerous individuals primarily Latino and Black inmates being
targeted because they hold in their possession drawings of Aztec,
Mayan, or other indigenous cultures, or for having books by Malcolm X
or George Jackson.
What this policy says to me is that the culture, the heritage, the
memory of your ancestors, and your political identity are a violation
of CDCR regulations and because of this violation you can be placed in
solitary confinement in a cell that measures 8×10 feet with no access
to fresh air or natural sunlight for up to 22 ½ hours per day for the
duration of your sentence, which could range from a couple of months to
the rest of your life.
Imagine having to spend the rest of
your life in solitary confinement under conditions of extreme sensory
deprivation only because you desire to know the history of your
ancestors.
For those who cannot hold onto their morale and are unable to endure
the torture tactics that the SHU imposes on the mind, body and soul;
for those that are not able to endure the sensory deprivation, the
physical isolation, and the unremitting monotonous routine that is life
in the SHU, CDCR has established a divide and conquer tactic that
continues to perpetuate the state manufactured violence that exists
within CDCR.
The “debriefing process” as a way to get out of the SHU, is an
ineffective policy that does more damage than good. The idea that in
order for me to get out of the SHU I have to provide information on
another inmate so that that inmate can take my place in the SHU only
continues to perpetuate the cycle of torture and oppression. The
debriefing process is a dehumanizing tool of oppression that is
designed to strip the dignity of our brothers in solitary confinement.
Those serving time in the SHU are placed in solitary confinement
without access to constructive programming, the elusive
“rehabilitation” that CDCR fails to provide. CDCR claims that it offers
rehabilitation. The whole point of rehabilitation is to prepare those
who are in prison for their return home so that they can become
productive members of their communities. But in the SHU at Pelican Bay
State Prison educational and life skills programs, (e.g. the Estelle
program and college correspondence courses) the rehabilitation program
has been cut drastically.
Lastly, before I close I wanted to tell you about the effects
solitary confinement has had on me. But I was having trouble describing
the effects because after being exposed to those torturous conditions
for such a prolonged period of time the effects seem and feel normal.
I recently came across an article that was on the SolitaryWatch.com
website titled the “Faces
and Voices of the California Prison Hunger Strike”. What caught my
attention was a picture of a familiar face, one that I recognized from
2001 when I was in Ad-Seg at High Desert State Prison. The picture was
of “J. Heshima Denham” who is housed under solitary confinement in the
SHU at Corcoran State Prison.
In the article he describes the effects of the torture units in the
SHU. He states, “torture must be defined by the effects it has on its
victims. And no one who has been confined to these indefinite torture
units for any length of time, either single or double celled has
escaped the psychological and physical devastation of the torture unit.”
The psychological and physical
devastation that our brother Heshima describes are real issues that I
will have to live with until I find some method of healing that will
allow me to be able to overcome the years of psychological, physical
and spiritual forms of torture that Ad-Seg and the SHU inflicts on the
mind, body and soul!
From Pelican Bay to Guantanamo Bay it’s the same thing, torture all
day.In solidarity with all struggles for human dignity!
One Love,
Danny Murillo
SHU survivor & UC Berkeley student
Danny Murillo
SHU survivor & UC Berkeley student
--
Freedom Archives
Freedom Archives
--
SIGN THE JERICHO COINTELPRO PETITION!
Free All Political Prisoners!
www.jerichony.org
No comments:
Post a Comment