[Ppnews] One Year Anniversary of Pelican Bay Hunger Strike Against Solitary Confinement

[Political Prisoner News]

One Year Anniversary of Pelican Bay Hunger Strike Against Solitary Confinement

July 3, 2012
http://solitarywatch.com/2012/07/03/one-year-anniversary-of-pelican-bay-hunger-strike-against-solitary-confinement/
by <http://solitarywatch.com/author/sal2329/>Sal Rodriguez

One year ago on 
<http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/fact-sheet-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay.pdf>July 
1, 2011, approximately 6,600 inmates across California launched a 
hunger strike in protest of conditions at Pelican Bay State 
Prison.  The leaders of the strike were a group of prisoners referred 
to as the Pelican Bay Short Corridor Collective, a multiracial group 
of prisoners.

The group issued 
<http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/the-prisoners-demands-2/>five 
demands:

1. End Group Punishment & Administrative Abuse

2. Abolish the Debriefing Policy, and Modify Active/Inactive Gang 
Status Criteria

3. Comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's 
Prisons 2006 Recommendations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary Confinement

4. Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food

5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming and Privileges for 
Indefinite SHU Status Inmates.

The strike would last three weeks before coming to an end. Several 
strikers would be hospitalized. The strike brought attention to the 
widespread use of solitary confinement in California; currently, 
approximately three thousand inmates are held in one of California's 
three Security Housing Units, where inmates determined to be gang 
members are sentenced to indefinite terms in solitary confinement. 
Those sentenced to the SHU for gang validation must either become an 
informant and leave the gang, must be inactive for six years, or they 
must parole from their sentence; the phrase "Parole, Snitch, or Die" 
captures the means of leaving the SHU.

The strike prompted the California Assembly's Public Safety Committee 
to hold a 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/08/24/historic-california-assembly-hearing-on-solitary-confinement/>hearing 
on the issue of long-term solitary confinement in California's 
prisons. Corrections officials defended their use of the SHU, arguing 
that it was necessary in controlling prison gangs. 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/09/26/roundup-of-testimony-from-california-assembly-hearing-on-solitary-confinement/>Critics 
pointed to the mounting evidence of the detrimental effects of 
solitary confinement, the absence of due process in 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/07/18/who-are-the-hunger-strikers-how-prisoners-land-in-pelican-bays-shus/>gang 
validation, and the fact that many inmates have been isolated for 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/09/22/the-truth-about-solitary-confinement-in-california/>decades.

The hunger strike would not be the last. On 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/10/08/voices-from-solitary-letter-from-calipatria-prison-hunger-strikers/>September 
26, 2011, prisoners would launch another hunger strike that would 
also last approximately three weeks.

At least two hunger strikers would commit suicide.

Smaller strikes would follow at Corcoran State Prison's 
Administrative Segregation Unit 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/02/17/conflicting-reports-on-hunger-strike-at-californias-corcoran-state-prison/>months 
later.  One hunger striker, 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/02/23/family-of-california-prisoner-who-died-on-hunger-strike-speaks-out/>Christian 
Gomez, would die during the strike.

In March 2012, California Correctional officials released a 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/03/09/5016/http://solitarywatch.com/2012/03/09/5016/>new 
gang validation policy. The plan revised the criteria for being 
validated a gang member and implemented a step-down program in which 
inmates could hypothetically be released from the SHU in four years, 
instead of the average of 6.8 years. This plan would

Many of the original hunger strike leaders issued a counterproposal. 
Several have commented that the proposed reforms are inadequate and 
argue instead that placement in solitary should be based on conduct 
rather than real or suspected prison gang membership.

On May 31, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a 
<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/06/01/pelican-bay-prisoners-file-lawsuit-against-long-term-isolation/>federal 
lawsuit on behalf of Pelican Bay SHU inmates who have been in 
solitary confinement for over 10 years, arguing that such long terms 
in solitary constitute violations of the Eighth Amendment. In 
addition the lawsuit challenges the gang validation system, arguing 
that the current system is a denial of Due Process rights.

To date, there remain over 3,000 inmates in Security Housing Units, 
and thousands more housed in solitary confinement in one of several 
Administrative Segregation Units across the state.

It remains to be seen how the new CDCR policies are implemented and 
how the many inmates effected by them will react.

Writings from Hunger Strikers:

<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/07/01/voices-from-solitary-letter-from-a-pelican-bay-hunger-striker/>Letter 
from a Pelican Bay Hunger Striker

<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/07/24/voices-from-solitary-letter-from-a-tehachapi-hunger-striker/>Letter 
from a Tehachapi Hunger Striker

Profile of a Pelican Bay Hunger Striker

<http://solitarywatch.com/2011/08/17/%E2%80%9Cgive-us-in-here-the-strength-to-see-this-thing-through%E2%80%9D-a-chronicle-of-the-pelican-bay-hunger-strike/>"Give 
Us in Here the Strength to See This Thing Through": A Chronicle of 
the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike

Prisoners Respond to Policy Reforms

<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/05/01/inmates-in-solitary-confinement-in-california-respond-to-prison-policy-reforms/>Five 
Prisoner Responses to the Gang Validation Reforms

<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/03/27/pelican-bay-shu-inmates-respond-to-proposed-policy-reforms-in-california-prisons/>Prisoner 
Counterproposal

<http://solitarywatch.com/2012/05/25/voices-from-solitary-a-lose-lose-situation/>Voices 
from Solitary: A Lose-Lose Situation




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