Crime

Legislators Call for Reform of Solitary Confinement Conditions

Published

11 years ago

February 14, 2014

A hearing was held Tuesday by legislators to push for sweeping reform in conditions faced by thousands of prisoners in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay and other state prisons, where they are often locked in the “hole” for decades in cells without a window, deprived of human contact, phone calls and even photos of loved ones.

The joint hearing called by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and Senator Loni Hancock was the second held in the wake of a hunger strike last year by over 30,000 California state prisoners – the third in two years – demanding an end to inhumane treatment, which they say constitutes torture under international law.

The two legislators and others criticized the reforms proposed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), which operates the state prisons, saying they do not go far enough to change the practices of placing prisoners for indefinite terms in Security Housing Unit (SHUs), which many feel should be abolished.

“Last year’s hunger strike again brought home the message that we need to do

Senator Loni Hancock

something about the SHU,” said Ammiano. “Moves by corrections show that they recognize the pressures for change. We want to look at whether those new regulations represent true progress.”

“There is no questions that these policies must be reformed,” said Hancock. “While I understand the CDCR is in the process of changing its SHU policy, my initial reading of the new policy left many questions unanswered.”

“We are working towards meaningful change, and at the end of the day we want to get it right,” she said.

Oakland civil rights attorney Anne Weils, who spoke at the hearing, read a statement by four Pelican prisoners who “called for the last hunger strike and starved to the end.” She said the prisoners were not allowed to attend, give testimony, listen or watch the hearing.

“We are prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison who have all lived for over 15 years locked 23 hours a day in small windowless cells, without ever being able to hug or touch our families … with no programs or chance of parole,” the statement said.

“California keeps us in these torturous conditions not because of any violence we have committed but because it believes we are affiliated with a gang, often based on artwork or photos we possess, tattoos we have, literature we read, who we talk to, or anonymous informants’ statements that we have no way of challenging.”

“We are put in Pelican Bay not for any specific term of months, or years for misconduct we have committed, but indefinitely, which in practice means forever – unless we become informants.”

“So this is our banned testimony. CDCR claims to have now instituted a reform program. It is a sham,” said the statement signed by Sitawa Jamaa, Todd Askher, Arturo Castellanos and Antonio Guillen.

Craig Haney, a psychology professor at UC Santa Cruz, speaking at the hearing, said that California’s wide use of definite solitary confinement, “makes it a outlier in respect to other states, (while) the U.S. is an outlier in respect to other countries.

“It is shocking and unprecedented by international standards,” Haney said. “We should debate whether long-term solitary confinement [is] torture.”

Prison officials maintain that secure housing units help thwart dangerous prison gangs and protect general prison populations from more violent inmates. During Tuesday’s hearing, officials who oversee the process pointed to progress in opening a pathway out of solitary.

“I think we all agree it is far too easy to get in and too hard to get out, and that the stays in this environment were certainly too long,” said Martin Hoshino, undersecretary of operations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Dozens of speakers – many teenaged sons and daughters and wives of inmates in solitary – lined up to briefly describe the impact on solitary confinement on their lives.

An 18-year-old young man said he and other worried about the psychological damage caused by locking their family members in the SHU. “Families that are praying that the person who gets out of solitary is the same person who he was when he went to jail.”

“My son has been in solitary confinement since 2009,” said a woman. “There is no reason why we as family members should not be able to have contact with our loved ones.”

A young man said that when he was arrested and held at a local jail, he was placed in isolation for two weeks because he had a seizure and officials thought he was pretending.

“I felt hopeless and trapped,” he said. “They wouldn’t allow me to shower for four days, I could smell myself and felt despised.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

OP-ED: Support the Campaign to Raise Oakland’s Minimum Wage

Don't Miss

Movie Reviews: ‘Winter’s Tale’ & ‘About Last Night’

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of January 15 – 21, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 15 – 21, 2025

Published

10 hours ago

January 17, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of January 8 – 14, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 8 – 14, 2025

Published

6 days ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

‘In 2024, We Had a Decrease in Shootings and Killings,’ Says Oakland Mayor Nikki Bas and Ceasefire Leaders

“The Ceasefire Strategy is once again being properly implemented and fully executed by all its partners as a data-driven gun violence reduction strategy. It is reducing gun violence in the City of Oakland with remarkable results and tangible improvements. The leadership of Rev. Damita Davis- Howard, Ceasefire director, Dr. Joshi of the Department of Violence Prevention, and the Ceasefire Strategy partners must be commended for this incredible work in ensuring public safety,” said Pastor Michael Wallace, Oakland Public Safety and Services Oversight Commission member.

Published

2 weeks ago

January 7, 2025

Oakland Post

Some faith and community leaders who attended the year-end Ceasefire press conference are (left to right): Rev. Damita Davis-Howard, Oakland Mayor Nikki Fortunato Bas, Rev. Michael Wallace, and Brooklyn Williams. Photo by Kevin Hicks.

From Oakland City News Sources

Oakland’s Ceasefire partners, including representatives from the City of Oakland Department of Violence Prevention (DVP), Faith in Action East Bay, and other community leaders held a press conference Monday to discuss year-end reductions in gun violence and share community support for the Ceasefire Strategy.

“Our communities have never wavered from our support of the Ceasefire Strategy. We knew in the beginning that Ceasefire saves the lives of Oakland’s most vulnerable,” said Alba Hernandez, Faith in Action East Bay.

According to the DVP, Oakland will finish 2024 as the safest year since the start of the COVID pandemic. As of Dec. 23, there has been a 35% decrease in murders accompanied by a 33% reduction in nonfatal shootings compared to 2023.

As Oakland’s primary violence reduction strategy, Ceasefire seeks to identify individuals at very high risk of being involved in gun violence. Those high-risk individuals who are arrestable are prioritized for law enforcement action. Others at the highest-risk are informed of their risk and offered intensive community-based services such as life coaching, workforce development, and mental health care.

Ceasefire operates through close coordination and collaboration between the Mayor’s Office, DVP, the Ceasefire director, Oakland Police Department, and the Alameda County Probation Department, with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) and California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC) providing training and technical assistance.

“I am extremely grateful for the successful resurrection of the Ceasefire Strategy and for the historic declines in shootings and homicides that followed in just one year. I am proud to have worked with [former] Mayor Sheng Thao to reinvest in Ceasefire, and I commend the leadership of Brooklyn Williams in the Mayor’s Office, who has assembled a committed team that is saving lives every day,” said Mayor Nikki Fortunato Bas.

Said Pastor Hopkins, Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, “I have been a pastor in Oakland for 36 years, and for each of those years the number of homicides has been a crisis in our community. Ceasefire is an answer to prayer because it serves to save lives by stopping the shooting and serving as a lifeline to healing,”

“The Department of Violence Prevention is grateful for the on-going support of Faith in Action East Bay and committed community leaders,” said Dr. Holly Joshi, chief of the DVP.

“Their vision to bring the Ceasefire strategy to Oakland over a decade ago, advocacy for its initial implementation, and determination to see it successfully re-rooted are commendable. With Ceasefire fully up and running, DVP life coaches and violence interrupters are in communities every day working with high-risk individuals, mediating conflicts, and preventing retaliatory violence. Through hard work, focus, and partnership, we have made significant progress this year in reducing gun violence,” said Joshi.

“The Ceasefire Strategy is once again being properly implemented and fully executed by all its partners as a data-driven gun violence reduction strategy. It is reducing gun violence in the City of Oakland with remarkable results and tangible improvements. The leadership of Rev. Damita Davis-Howard, Ceasefire director, Dr. Joshi of the Department of Violence Prevention, and the Ceasefire Strategy partners must be commended for this incredible work in ensuring public safety,” said Pastor Michael Wallace, Oakland Public Safety and Services Oversight Commission member.

“The Oakland Ceasefire Strategy is one of the most comprehensive, intelligence-led violence reduction initiatives I have had the privilege to be a part of and fully support,” said Oakland Police Department Chief Floyd Mitchell.

“The 2024 violent crime reduction data realized by the City of Oakland underscores the effectiveness of our unwavering focus, strategic emphasis, and strong collaborative partnerships within the Ceasefire framework,” Mitchell continued. “Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Oakland Police Department, and the invaluable contributions of our community, county, state, and federal partners, Oakland has achieved a 34% decrease in homicides, a 33% decline in firearm-related assaults, and a 25% reduction in robberies.”

“Oakland is once again a national leader in gun violence reduction,” said David Muhammad, executive director of NICJR. “Through the hard work of community violence intervention workers in partnership with city staff, police officers, Alameda County Probation, and others, many lives were saved in Oakland this year.”