The crime of punishment at Pelican Bay State Prison

This was published on Nov 27th 2012 in the SF Chronicle, but we missed mentioning it here. Gabriel Reyes has told us this painful truth and it is up to us to support him and others who are still inside the concrete tomb paid for by the public, known as Pelican Bay State Prison. Write him to show support! See for his address below the article.

Nov 27th, 2012, read the whole article here.

For the past 16 years, I have spent at least 22 1/2 hours of every day completely isolated within a tiny, windowless cell in the Security Housing Unit at California's Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City (Del Norte County).

Eighteen years ago, I committed the crime that brought me here: burgling an unoccupied dwelling. Under the state's "three strikes" law, I was sentenced to between 25 years and life in prison. From that time, I have been forced into solitary confinement for alleged "gang affiliation." I have made desperate and repeated appeals to rid myself of that label, to free myself from this prison within a prison, but to no avail.

The circumstances of my case are not unique; in fact, about a third of Pelican Bay's 3,400 prisoners are in solitary confinement; more than 500 have been there for 10 years, including 78 who have been here for more than 20 years, according to a 2011 report by National Public Radio.

Unless you have lived it, you cannot imagine what it feels like to be by yourself, between four cold walls, with little concept of time, no one to confide in, and only a pillow for comfort - for years on end. It is a living tomb.

I eat alone and exercise alone in a small, dank, cement enclosure known as the "dog-pen." I am not allowed telephone calls, nor can my family visit me very often; the prison is hundreds of miles from the nearest city.

I have not been allowed physical contact with any of my loved ones since 1995.

I have developed severe insomnia, I suffer frequent headaches, and I feel helpless and hopeless. In short, I am being psychologically tortured.

Claimed reforms or opportunities to be transferred out of the SHU are tokens at best.

Our other option to improve our lot is "debriefing," which means informing on prisoner activities. The guards use this tactic as leverage in exchange for medical care, food, amenities and even, theoretically, removal from the SHU. Debrief sessions are held in complete secrecy. When another prisoner is the subject of a debrief, he is not informed of the content, so he is punished with no means to challenge the accusations.

I have two disciplinary citations on my record. The first arose because I donated artwork to a non-profit organization. The other is because I participated in a statewide hunger strike to protest conditions in the SHU. The strike was thought to be a success, with more than 6,000 inmates going without food for several weeks and ending with the promise of serious reforms from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In spite of the promises, the CDCR does not plan to institute any meaningful reforms.

Now fellow SHU inmates and I have joined together with the Center for Constitutional Rights in a federal lawsuit that challenges this treatment as unconstitutional. I understand I broke the law, and I have lost liberties because of that. But no one, no matter what they've done, should be denied fundamental human rights, especially when that denial comes in the form of such torture. Our Constitution protects everyone living under it; fundamental rights must not be left at the prison door.

Gabriel Reyes is a prisoner at California's Pelican Bay State Prison.

Gabriel Reyes
#C88996
Pelican Bay State Prison
D2-102
PO Box 7500
Crescent City, CA 95532
USA

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/The-crime-of-punishment-at-Pelican-Bay-State-3597332.php#ixzz2IhVj8ZlO

‘Settle your quarrels’: Update on End to Hostilities, prisoners’ demands, hunger strike

From: SF Bay View, Nov 18th 2012 

November 18, 2012

by Arturo Castellanos
I’m one of the Pelican Bay State Prison SHU (Security Housing Unit) prisoner representatives. I write this to touch on a couple of issues of immediate importance.

Arturo Castellanos - Photo: CDCR via California Watch

First, we have received a lot of questions regarding the “End to All Hostilities” paper, via prison publications, attorneys etc. I will answer the most important ones here.

No, it was never meant to be a call for a hunger strike on Oct. 10. Those that did go on one, no biggie. I’m sure it was good practice.

Yes, it’s also between all groups (all good solid Southern, Northern, Eastern, Western, up and down, back and forward). And since it involves all CDCR and county jails, it also involves all Youth Authority, YTS (Youth Training School), and all juvenile halls, camps etc. across the state.

We hope that this now clarifies the document to everyone’s satisfaction. Of course there are always going to be groups and individuals who feel that it does not apply to them and act accordingly in an adverse manner under that false belief. Well, the only thing that we can say to those is to repeat an old convict/prisoner common sense saying, “Don’t ever falsely assume one’s hands are tied, where one expects all others to just stand still and take it.” Therefore, it’s vital that this End to Hostilities holds for all races and groups, as I will briefly explain.

The documents the Short Corridor Collective have been putting out since our March 2012 rejection of CDCR’s STG-SDP (Security Threat Group, Step Down Program) 5.5 Program and will continue to put out are in the following order:

1. The Open Letter to Gov. Jerry Brown
2. The Agreement to End Hostilities between all races and groups
3. Our Rejection/Response to CDCR’s STG-SDP 7.0
4. Our Demands/Notice giving CDCR a “deadline” to meet all of the demands, or else we are going to resume our peaceful hunger strike (HS) and work stoppage (WS) starting on July 8, 2013.

It’s vital that the End to Hostilities holds for all races and groups.

Note that we only agreed to “temporarily” suspend the July and October 2011 hunger strike after CDCR agreed to change a lot of SHU policies and practices in a positive manner. Since then, CDCR has failed to honor their end of our prior agreements. Instead, they gave us STG-SDP 7.0 that will only put a lot more in SHU.

July 8, 2013, will be two years. That’s CDCR’s deadline. Stay tuned for the last two documents. The last document should be out on the web by the end of this year. And we will also serve a copy of it on all CDCR officials. But I will give a sneak preview here in a couple of paragraphs.

We are giving CDCR a deadline to meet all of the demands, or else we are going to resume our peaceful hunger strike and work stoppage starting on July 8, 2013.

Since July 2011, we have read in prison publications how prisoners all across the state and the U.S. are also being deprived and tortured in different ways, including women prisoners. We knew we were not alone in this.

So our Demands/Notice will contain, among others, the list of Orders/Demands listed in The Rock newsletter, Volume 1, No. 10, October 2012 (which are a part of our original five core demands); as well as our statement about how CDCR must abolish “intelligence” based SHU/Ad-Seg (Administrative Segregation) confinement, as stated in The Rock newsletter, Volume 1, No. 9, September 2012.

We will also call on [prisoners in] GP (general population), Ad-Seg, death row and SHU representatives, including women (I’m also personally including here all YA and YTS), to draft up their own demands tailored to their own individual institutional needs to be served on CDCR and their prison wardens – I would get started on them now – as well as a call for all prisoners across the U.S., state and federal, to join us July 8, 2013, for a national hunger strike and work stoppage to protest solitary confinement and the continued deprivations and conditions in their individual prison systems.

We will also encourage reps from each U.S. prison to formulate their own separate demands, now tailored for their individual state and institutional needs, also setting July 8, 2013, as their deadline to meet their demands or else they will also go on hunger strike and work stoppage, which we will support. And for those interested as to acceptable strategies, have family and friends send you free download copies of The Rock newsletter Volume 1, No. 7, July 2012.

We will also call on [prisoners in] GP (general population), Ad-Seg, death row and SHU representatives, including women (I’m also personally including here all YA and YTS), to draft up their own demands, tailored to their own individual institutional needs, to be served on CDCR and their prison wardens – I would get started on them now.

In closing, we know a lot of prisoners are wondering why we did come up with a date so far away. As individuals from each group, we are always itching and ready to act; however, because this involves many different groups, ideas, opinions, as a collective we had to restrain our urges of going at it now and instead we had to exercise patience in order to obtain a mutual agreement between all of our groups which we now have.

That was the most important aspect of our own negotiations, to set a deadline for CDCR that we all agreed on. And to fully understand our vision, where we are not only thinking of our state, one must stand back and see the big picture of this upcoming main event, where all U.S. prisoners are asked to pick up the flag of solidarity and also volunteer and join us on that national hunger strike and work stoppage starting on July 8, 2013.

We are basically also opening the door and giving all U.S. prisoners a forum to put forward their own demands for change. This all takes a lot of time to do, plus, it’s less than a year away, which is nothing for those of us who have already spent decades in SHU. And for those who do not wish to participate, that’s fine with us. Just like all the past ones, this is going to be on a pure voluntary basis; however, it is now time to stand up on July 8, 2013, and be counted among those standing on the line that we have already drawn in the sand!

All U.S. prisoners are asked to pick up the flag of solidarity and also volunteer and join us on that national hunger strike and work stoppage starting on July 8, 2013.

Always in solidarity!
Arturo Castellanos, C-17275, PBSP-SHU Prisoner Representative
Mail to Arturo is severely restricted.

“George Jackson” – linocut by Santiago Armengod

“Settle your quarrels” is from the famous passage in “Blood in My Eye” by George Jackson, written just before he was assassinated while he was locked in solitary confinement at San Quentin Prison and published posthumously: “Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people are dying who could be saved, that generations more will die or live poor butchered half-lives if you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Pass on the torch. Join us, give up your life for the people.”

Soledad prison nurse accused of diverting drugs

It seems form this article that the whole medical and pharmaceutics department of CDCR should be checked and maybe even reorganized. And by the way, there are still many prisoners who are seriously ill, and who do not try and take advantage of the system, without even basic, let alone adequate medical care in California. What about an audit for them?

This article was written

By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY, for the Monterey Herald, Nov 17th 2012

A state licensing board and the Attorney General's Office have accused a vocational nurse of diverting pharmaceutical narcotics at a Soledad prison.

http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_22018613/soledad-prison-nurse-accused-diverting-drugs&lang=en

California leaders call on Gov. Brown to grant demands of prisoners in solitary confinement

In: SF Bay View, November 14, 2012

by Geri Silva, Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS)

More than 3,000 prisoners in California are held in high security isolation units known as Security Housing Units (SHUs), where they are confined for at least 22 and a half hours a day in single or double cells, with no work or meaningful rehabilitation programs or group activities of any kind. Over 1,000 are held in the SHU at Pelican Bay State Prison, a remote facility where most prisoners are confined alone in cells which have no windows to the outside or direct access to natural light.

[photo: When the U.S. Senate held its historic hearing on solitary confinement June 19, 2012, a mock solitary cell behind the speakers dramatized the urgency of relief for the 80,000 to 100,000 prisoners currently held in such cells nationwide. – Photo: Jonathan Ernst, New York Times]

SHU prisoners are isolated both within prison and from meaningful contacts with the outside world: Contact with correctional staff is kept to a minimum, and consultations with medical, mental health and other staff routinely take place behind barriers; all visits, including family and legal visits, are also non-contact, with prisoners separated from their visitors behind a glass screen.

Of those, more than 2,000 prisoners are serving “indeterminate” (indefinite) SHU terms because they have been “validated” by the prison authorities as members or associates of prison gangs. According to figures provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in 2011, more than 500 prisoners serving indeterminate SHU terms had spent 10 or more years in the Pelican Bay SHU; of this number, more than 200 had spent over 15 years in the SHU and 78 more than 20 years. Many had been in the SHU since it opened in 1989, held in conditions of extreme isolation and environmental deprivation.

Consult the September 2012 Amnesty International report, “USA: The Edge of Endurance: Prison Conditions in California’s Security Housing Units,” for more information.

The following letter has been sent to Gov. Jerry Brown by 15 outstanding Californians in academia, government and business:

Gov. Jerry Brown
State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

Gov. Brown,

We write you on behalf of the thousands of men and women whose bodies are now confined inside prisons across the state of California, under some of the cruelest and most torturous of constraints: Indefinite Solitary Confinement.

During the summer of 2011, men in Pelican Bay SHU units came together, united across all racial and “political barriers,” voluntarily giving up what little sustenance and comfort they had by going on two prolonged hunger strikes, making clear to all that their prolonged condition of indefinite solitary confinement had reached a point where drastic measures were absolutely necessary.

The men in the Pelican Bay short corridor, who are considered to be dangerously violent and labeled the “worst of the worst” agreed on a peaceful but personally dangerous action to demonstrate the depth of their suffering under conditions of indefinite solitary confinement. The community, but most especially their families, were immediate to take on their issues. Other prisoners in Solitary Confinement throughout the state participated and echoed the demands. Eventually, over 6,000 joined the fast in solidarity with the men in Pelican Bay SHU and in Solitary Confinement and Administrative Segregation throughout the state.

More than a year has passed since the summer 2011 hunger strikes, which were geared at the realization of five core demands. According to the Pelican Bay SHU Short Corridor recognized representatives, who have been meeting and negotiating with representatives from the CDCR, the men are still waiting for the CDCR to meet their five core demands, all of which CDCR’s top administrators admitted were reasonable at the time!

We seek to insure that the demand for an end to the cruelty of indefinite solitary confinement and the wide-spread support generated on the basis of those conditions does not die from the lack of will on the part of the CDCR. Gov. Brown, we appeal to you in unity with the Pelican Bay SHU Short Corridor prisoner representatives – Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, Sitawa N. Jamaa and Antonio Guillen – to seek CDCR support to insure the following:

First, the practice of validating inmates based on assumptions and/or intelligence with no factual basis must be abolished.

We call for an end to the practice of placing prisoners in SHU based on:

• Second-hand information gathering (the word of another similarly situated prisoner who is granted favors or relief based on his/her testimony);
• Anything other than the eye-witness actions of the person under consideration for validation. All intelligence gathered which is based upon what someone else did or someone else said the suspected prisoner did, based on possession of pictures, names and addresses, or based on the individual writing certain other individuals, must be deemed “ghost intelligence,” outlaw procedure and must be immediately discarded.

People should be placed in SHU only after a finding of misconduct resulting from a disciplinary hearing which is based on facts and proven misconduct.

Second, a four year step down process is too long. Not only should SHU and Ad/Seg confinement be reserved for prisoners found guilty of committing serious rule violations, no term or step down process should be in excess of one year!

According to U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment Juan Mendez, while speaking of Solitary Confinement on Oct. 8, 2011: “Indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement in excess of 15 days should also be subject to an absolute prohibition.” He cited scientific studies that have established that some lasting mental damage is caused after a few days of social isolation.

We sign this letter to reflect the sense of urgency that we feel. Arbitrary and indefinite solitary confinement is an absolute assault on humankind and a barbarity the likes of which cannot be tolerated. We hold the utmost respect for those prisoners who from the depths of Solitary Confinement throughout California risked their lives to be heard. We heard them and now we ask that you do the same.

Respectfully submitted,

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, UC Irvine Law School

Jackie Goldberg, Former State Assemblywoman

Tony Platt, Visiting Professor, Justice Studies, San Jose State University

Mike Davis, Professor of Creative Writing, UC Irvine

Susan Weissman, Professor of Politics, Saint Mary’s College of California

Susan Straight, Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, UC Riverside, Novelist and Essayist, Columnist for KCET

Rebecca Solnit, Writer, San Francisco

Jon Weiner, Professor of History, UC Irvine; Contributing Editor, The Nation

Victor Valle, Writer and Professor of Ethnic Studies, California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo

Amie Williams, Global Girl Executive Director and Co-Founder

Ben Ehrenreich, Author

Adam Shatz, London Review of Books

Sheila Kuehl, Former California State Senator

Patricia Morton, Chair and Associate Professor, Art History Department, UC Riverside

Marilyn Katz, President, MK Communications

Geri Silva, director of Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS), can be reached at gerifacts@sbcglobal.net.

Survey questionnaire from the Pelican Bay Human Rights Movement First Amendment Campaign

From: SF Bay View, Nov 6th 2012

This  Survey questionnaire is being presented to the community for the purpose of making a qualitative assessment of the CDCR’s mail policies and practices in relation to prisoners and our families’ First Amendment constitutional right to send and receive mail and our 14th Amendment constitutional right to be provided with adequate notice of the reasons for our mail being stopped or disallowed, so that we can have
the opportunity to be meaningfully heard as to why our mail is being stopped or disallowed.

The data gathered from this survey will be utilized as material evidence in an ongoing case aimed at obtaining a permanent injunction in court. The injunction would enjoin CDCR’s Prison Intelligence Unit (PIU) and Institutional Gang Investigators (IGI) from arbitrarily accusing prisoners, our families and law abiding citizens of the free community of promoting gang activity via the mail that prisoners are sending to and receiving from our families and members of the free community. A permanent injunction will only be granted upon a showing of irreparable harm and when the constitutional violation is proven to be of a systemic nature.

Therefore, it would be greatly appreciated if the community could take a few minutes to answer the following questions:

Questions for prisoners:

1. What prison are you in?
2. How long have you been in this prison?
3. Have you ever had your incoming mail or outgoing mail stopped or disallowed on the grounds of allegedly promoting gang activity? If yes, did you receive a “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice”?
4. If you have had your mail stopped or disallowed, did the reasons listed on the “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” provide you with a specific explanation as to how you were allegedly promoting gang activity? Or was the explanation vague?
5. Since the year 2006, how many “Stopped Mail Notices” and/or “Mail Disallowal Notices” have you received as a prisoner?
6. If you have ever had your mail stopped or disallowed, were you ever issued a “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” that stated: “You were promoting BGF related activity” because your mail made a reference to any of the following:
   • George Jackson
   • Black August
   • New Afrikan
   • New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism (NARN)
   • Black Panther Party
   • George Jackson University
   • New Afrikan Institute of Criminology 101
   • New Afrikan Collective Think Tank
7. Have the allegations of gang activity in the “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or “Mail Disallowal Notice” ever been used against you in your Inactive Gang Status Reviews? If yes, please list the months and years that this happened.
8. Have the allegations of gang activity in the “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” ever been used against you to deny you parole at your parole suitability hearing? If yes, please list the months and years that this happened.
9. Have you ever been placed on mail restrictions in relation to receiving a “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” for alleged gang activity where you were told that you could not write to a specific member of the free community? If yes, how long were the mail restrictions?
10. Have you ever received a CDC 115 Rules Violation Report for allegedly promoting gang activity via your outgoing or incoming mail? If yes, please list the months and years that this happened.

Questions for family and community members:

1. Do you have a friend or family member in prison? If yes, what prison are they in?
2. Do you regularly write to your friend or family member in prison? If yes, how often?
3. Have you ever received a “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” stating that your mail is being stopped or disallowed because you are promoting gang activity? If yes, please list the months and years.
4. When the prison sent you the “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice,” did the notice inform you that you have a right to file a 602 appeal and/or a citizen’s complaint pursuant to CCR Title 15 Sections 3291(b), 3391(d), and Penal Code Section 832.5?
5. If you have had your mail stopped or disallowed, did the reasons listed on the “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or “Mail Disallowal Notice” provide you with a specific explanation as to how you were allegedly promoting gang activity? Or was the explanation vague?
6. Since the year 2006, how many “Stopped Mail Notices” and/or “Mail Disallowal Notices” have you received as a family or community member?
7. If you have had your mail stopped or disallowed, were you ever issued a “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” that stated: “You were promoting BGF related activity” because your mail made a reference to any of the following:
   • George Jackson
   • Black August
   • New Afrikan
   • New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism (NARN)
   • Black Panther Party
   • George Jackson University
   • New Afrikan Institute of Criminology 101
   • New Afrikan Collective Think Tank
8. Have you ever been placed on mail restrictions in relation to receiving a “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or a “Mail Disallowal Notice” for alleged gang activity where you were told that you could not write to a specific prisoner? If yes, how long were the mail restrictions?
9. Were you ever subjected to any criminal prosecution as a result of CDCR’s Prison Intelligence Unit (PIU) or Institutional Gang Investigators (IGI) accusing you of promoting gang activity per any “Stopped Mail Notice” and/or “Mail Disallowal Notice” that you were issued by the prison?

I would like to thank the community in light of everybody taking a minute to answer the questions within this survey questionnaire. This is a time sensitive request. At your earliest convenience, please mail all survey questionnaires to:

Legal Services for Prisoners With Children, c/o Attorney Carol Strickman,
Re: First Amendment Campaign,
1540 Market St., Suite 490,
San Francisco, CA 94102.
Members of the public can email responses to Azadeh@prisonerswithchildren.org.

All Power to the People!

Freedom, Justice and Human Rights Coordinator