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<h1><font size=4><b>One Year Anniversary of Pelican Bay Hunger Strike
Against Solitary Confinement</b></font></h1><font size=3>July 3,
2012<br>
</font><font size=1>
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/07/03/one-year-anniversary-of-pelican-bay-hunger-strike-against-solitary-confinement/" eudora="autourl">
http://solitarywatch.com/2012/07/03/one-year-anniversary-of-pelican-bay-hunger-strike-against-solitary-confinement/<br>
</a></font><font size=3>by
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/author/sal2329/">Sal Rodriguez</a>
<br><br>
One year ago on
<a href="http://solitarywatch.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/fact-sheet-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay.pdf">
July 1</a>, 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.<br><br>
The group issued
<a href="http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/the-prisoners-demands-2/">
five demands</a>:<br><br>
1. End Group Punishment & Administrative Abuse<br><br>
2. Abolish the Debriefing Policy, and Modify Active/Inactive Gang Status
Criteria<br><br>
3. Comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons
2006 Recommendations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary
Confinement<br><br>
4. Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food<br><br>
5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming and Privileges for
Indefinite SHU Status Inmates.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
The strike prompted the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee to
hold a
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/08/24/historic-california-assembly-hearing-on-solitary-confinement/">
hearing</a> 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.
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/09/26/roundup-of-testimony-from-california-assembly-hearing-on-solitary-confinement/">
Critics</a> pointed to the mounting evidence of the detrimental effects
of solitary confinement, the absence of due process in
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/07/18/who-are-the-hunger-strikers-how-prisoners-land-in-pelican-bays-shus/">
gang validation</a>, and the fact that many inmates have been isolated
for
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/09/22/the-truth-about-solitary-confinement-in-california/">
decades</a>.<br><br>
The hunger strike would not be the last. On
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/10/08/voices-from-solitary-letter-from-calipatria-prison-hunger-strikers/">
September 26</a>, 2011, prisoners would launch another hunger strike that
would also last approximately three weeks.<br><br>
At least two hunger strikers would commit suicide.<br><br>
Smaller strikes would follow at Corcoran State Prison’s Administrative
Segregation Unit
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/02/17/conflicting-reports-on-hunger-strike-at-californias-corcoran-state-prison/">
months later</a>. One hunger striker,
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/02/23/family-of-california-prisoner-who-died-on-hunger-strike-speaks-out/">
Christian Gomez</a>, would die during the strike.<br><br>
In March 2012, California Correctional officials released a
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/03/09/5016/http://solitarywatch.com/2012/03/09/5016/">
new gang validation policy</a>. 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<br><br>
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.<br><br>
On May 31, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/06/01/pelican-bay-prisoners-file-lawsuit-against-long-term-isolation/">
federal lawsuit</a> 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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
It remains to be seen how the new CDCR policies are implemented and how
the many inmates effected by them will react.<br><br>
<b>Writings from Hunger Strikers:<br><br>
</b>
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/07/01/voices-from-solitary-letter-from-a-pelican-bay-hunger-striker/">
Letter from a Pelican Bay Hunger Striker</a><br><br>
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2011/07/24/voices-from-solitary-letter-from-a-tehachapi-hunger-striker/">
Letter from a Tehachapi Hunger Striker</a><br><br>
<b>Profile of a Pelican Bay Hunger Striker<br><br>
</b>
<a href="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</a><br><br>
<b>Prisoners Respond to Policy Reforms<br><br>
</b>
<a href="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</a><br><br>
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/03/27/pelican-bay-shu-inmates-respond-to-proposed-policy-reforms-in-california-prisons/">
Prisoner Counterproposal</a><br><br>
<a href="http://solitarywatch.com/2012/05/25/voices-from-solitary-a-lose-lose-situation/">
Voices from Solitary: A Lose-Lose Situation</a><br><br>
<br><br>
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