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NEWS & LETTERS, March 2002
California lockdown
Los Angeles—The Criminal
Justice Consortium of Southern California held a forum in January called
"Seeking Justice for the Imprisoned '02." More than 250 people
attended, including some ex-prisoners and activists representing various
organizations. California prisons today are
increasingly institutions of dehumanizing, tortuous punishment rather than
rehabilitation. SHUs (Security Housing Units) or "Lockdowns" is a
program of inmate isolation (23 1/2 hours a day in their cells) and sensory
deprivation, meant to destroy inmates' basic personality, all of which
contributes to feelings of anger, rage and violence in the inmates. According to
Corey Weinstein, M.D., the SHUs and prison yards are rife with fighting, gang
activities, prisoner on prisoner assault, as well as assault on staff. The continued existence of the
SHUs is justified as an anti-gang measure. Many "gang
members" are targeted for SHUs regardless of what crimes they were
convicted of, just because they were labelled gang members. Those that don't
"snitch-out" on their former "gang" associates (people they
grew up with) are often put in SHUs as "serious rules violators." To
be released from SHUs, they must also "snitch-out." In July, 2001, 1,000 prisoners
housed in SHUs at Pelican Bay and Corcoran state prisons, self-organized and
went on a hunger strike to voice their grievances, including excessively long
sentences in SHUs. The inmates stopped their hunger strike when requested to do
so by a progressive California assemblyman along with non-prisoner prison reform
activists. Meetings were held by officials in Sacramento after the hunger strike
ceased. It is not clear what reforms have resulted from those activities. In the workshop on women
prisoners, serious illnesses like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis and lack of health care
are major issues. A "suicide watch" in one prison consists of her
being strapped down naked on a cold metal table with no sheets for 24-48 hours.
There was testimony by a mother whose daughter (Gina Muniz) died of cancer
because prison officials continually ignored her plea for medical attention. One woman ex-prisoner stated
"inmates trying to look after other inmates were threatened with
lock-up." Still another said: "We are the people that pay taxes for
the system to go on. This forum is a first step in a mile long struggle. We're
the heart of the community, we're the mothers." Too often, prisoners, both
male and female, are moved to a facility far from family members to discourage
visitation. A consensus of the forum was
that prisoners need contact with and support from the outside in the form of
letters and visitation (especially children of mothers) as a means to
reestablish humane relationships which the prisons destroy. —Activist |
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