Torture in CA Jails: New Wins, New Struggles

By Samantha Alsina on May 25, 2016

Earlier this year, President Obama passed a new executive order banning the use of solitary confinement on juveniles in federal facilities. In this past month, the Los Angeles County passed new restrictions on the use of solitary confinement on juveniles as well.

 Although largely symbolic, Obama’s action and the new restrictions in Los Angeles County mean something important: Jail conditions and the movement to end solitary confinement are reaching new stepping stones.

However, these successes were not easily won and there is still more to do.

In 2011, inmates held in Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California initiated a hunger strike based on demands addressed to the California Department of Correctional Rehabilitation (CDCR). Their 5 Core Demands included the end of solitary confinement and other administrative changes to their living conditions. The demands can be viewed right here.

In the following years, the hunger strike grew enormously and inmates across prisons, affiliations, ethnicities, and races were unified. By the end of 2013, thousands across the state of California  had joined the fight for better living conditions.

 

Aerial shot of Pelican Bay State Prison where the 2011 CA hunger strikes initiated

In retrospect, these new orders and restrictions are a triumph. The 2011 hunger strikes show how the most marginalized and disenfranchised communities can be a driving force in their own lives. It demonstrates the amount of organizing and empowerment where even family members can become public advocates on behalf of loved ones.

 It is now common knowledge that the use of solitary confinement amounts to torture. It is common knowledge because inmates knew the conditions they lived in was worth putting their lives at stake for and was worth fighting against.

Sleep Deprivation as Torture

Despite the triumphs, solitary confinement is still visible in prisons across the nation and the CDCR has found new means to stop inmate organizing and communication.

A new policy called “security welfare checks” has been implemented in which inmates are being systematically sleep deprived at large amounts of time. An inmate typically receives 40-48 checks per day.

These security checks typically happen every half hour during the day or night. Sleep is nearly impossible. Inmates in cells may hear loud beeping or metal banging that typically reverberates in the cell where they are being held. Multiple reports indicate that correctional officers have also banged on the door and shine flashlights into prisoners’ eyes to enforce wakefulness.

Initial reports of sleep deprivation were first heard as early as May 2013 in Pelican Bay Prison in retaliation to hunger strikers. However, it seems that under the duress of a lawsuit, the policy was ceased in use for some time.

According to one report, these so called security/welfare checks re-started in August 2015 following the lawsuit settlement between the CDCR and inmates (Ashker V. Brown).

Despite when it initially began, its current systemic use across California prisons and it’s long term damaging effects is irrefutable. Many inmates have reported experiencing headaches, vision problems, bowel or stomach issues, depression, stress, and accelerated heart rates. These are just a few of the symptoms reported.

The CDCR has attempted to justify these security/welfare checks by claiming that they are trying to prevent suicide but in reality, these persistent “checks” are meant as a means to prevent further human rights organizing within prisons.

These so called ‘sleep/welfare checks’ are particularly pronounced at the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) on segregated death row inmates and on inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit (PB SHU).

The extent and prevalence of the use of sleep deprivation across California Prisons as a whole remains unclear.

If you would like to learn more about this issue or would like to contribute, please click here. There are various ways, small or large, that you can help bring these devastating practices to an end.

Women Prisons & Suicide Rates

The California Institution for Women (CIW) in Corona is one prime example of the severity of living conditions in prisons. According to the Associated Press, CIW has 8 times the national average of inmate suicide and 5 times the average rate of the state of California.

The dramatic increase of suicide is a surprise to many experts who earlier had hailed the CIW psychiatric program as a prime example of mental health care. Many of the women who committed suicide either were receiving mental health treatment at the time or had done so in the recent past.

This is a suicide epidemic and overcrowded prisons is one major cause of it. Many who should be on proper suicide watch are put into solitary confinement instead.

Owing to the dramatic consequences of solitary confinement, it is no wonder that many women are beginning to take their lives in a system that merely shuffles people around without any sense of actual rehabilitation.

The extent of brutalization that occurs within prison walls is unacceptable and outrageous. As one of the countries with the highest rates of incarceration, it is unacceptable to do nothing about it. Prisoners have demonstrated the ability to carry out a movement but they need our outside help. So, let’s give a hand and be the generation that ends prison torture for good.

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