[Pnews] Friday, Feb 23rd, SF Court Hearing: Prisoners moved to “General Population” from SHU are Still in Solitary Confinement

[Prisoner News]

https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2018/02/16/feb-23-rally-court-hearing-california-prisoners-moved-to-general-population-from-shu-are-still-being-held-in-solitary-confinement/ 



  FEB 23 RALLY & COURT HEARING: California Prisoners moved to “General
  Population” from SHU are STILL being held in Solitary Confinement

February 16, 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Show your support on February 23rd for people to be put in a true 
general population setting with regular access to yard, day room, 
programming, jobs, fresh air, phone, and other means of social 
interaction and environmental stimulation.


        Rally with us and be in court for oral argument in this
        important hearing in /Ashker v. Governor of California/.

*Friday, February 23, 2018
Phillip Burton Federal Courthouse, 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, 
CA 94012*

*12:00 pm: RALLY outside the SF Courthouse
**1:00 pm: PACK THE COURTROOM, Courtroom #1, 17th* *Floor
*

Show the judge we still support those incarcerated in solitary/SHU-like 
conditions!

/We will head inside the courthouse at 12:40pm. You must pass through a 
metal detector and present ID to enter the courthouse./

*Facebook event:* *https://www.facebook.com/events/2011774719037446/*

*Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) will be there! Feb 23- Oral 
Argument in /Ashker v. Governor of C/ 
<https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/events/oral-argument-ashker-v-governor-california>*/*A*/ 
<https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/events/oral-argument-ashker-v-governor-california>

To supporters of human rights,

On February 23, 2018 in San Francisco, an important motion will be heard 
in /Ashker v. Governor /(aka /Ashker v. Brown/), the federal class 
action lawsuit challenging prolonged solitary confinement in California. 
As a result of the settlement in /Ashker/, over 1400 people were 
released from solitary confinement Security Housing Units (SHU) to what 
the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) calls 
“General Population.”  Yet, many of the class members released from SHU 
continue to suffer conditions of extreme isolation. Hardly ever getting 
out-of-cell time, they have been forced to spend as much /or more/ time 
locked in their cells as when they were in SHU, with little to no 
rehabilitative or educational programming or social interaction with 
other people.

*On February 23,  Jules Lobel, of the Center for Constitutional Rights 
and the /Ashker/ legal team, will be arguing a motion challenging these 
SHU-like general population units as a violation of the settlement 
agreement.*

A prisoner who is no longer in SHU after 15 years, explains his new 
“general population” conditions at Calipatria:

    “… Out of cell time is regularly cancelled or restricted. Yard time
    is scheduled 4 times per week, but is often available only 1 or 2
    times per week. Showers and telephone calls, which are supposed to
    be available every other day, are infrequent, and we must choose one
    or the other. … I leave my cell for 20-25 minutes for breakfast, and
    many days, this is my only out-of-cell time. …The conditions in
    ‘general population’ in Calipatria are similar to SHU… I have
    limited social interaction and intellectual stimulation. I rarely go
    outside…I have difficulty maintaining relationships with my family
    especially since my ability to use the telephone is so infrequent
    and irregular. I suffer from insomnia. I suffer from anxiety that I
    feel is directly linked to the irregular programming: I am anxious
    because I do not know what will happen next.”

Carol Strickman, of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and the 
/Ashker /legal team, states:

    “On Friday, February 23, the San Francisco district court magistrate
    will hear argument on our motion regarding the isolated conditions
    that many of our class members are experiencing in the Level IV
    maximum security prisons that they were transferred to. Their
    conditions are so extreme that our correctional expert states,
    ‘These prisoners are not actually in what reasonably may be
    considered general population: rather, they are in a form of
    restrictive housing as these terms are commonly understood within
    the corrections profession.’ We are encouraging interested parties
    to attend the hearing.”

*RALLY AT 12PM *before the hearing, outside of the courthouse
*HEARING AT 1PM in Courtroom 1, on the 17th floor. *(Remember to bring ID)

Please pass this message on to fellow supporters of human rights who may 
be able to attend on the 23rd. *Check the Prisoner Hunger Strike 
Solidarity website for upcoming details on a postcard campaign to 
further support the */*Ashker */*class members*. 
https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/ 
<https://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/>

If you have transportation needs or offers for the Feb 23 Rally and 
Court Hearing, please emailphssreac 
<mailto:phssreachingout at gmail.com>hingout at gmail.com 
<mailto:phssreachingout at gmail.com> or call 510-426-5322 as soon as possible.


        Solitary Confinement is Torture.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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