Pelican Bay Prison: One Year Later, Policy Remains "Debrief or Die"

Subject: Re: Pelican Bay Prison: One Year Later, Policy Remains "Debrief or Die"

With all our so called Christian Faith and Love of Jesus, we remain as base and cruel as our Pagan ancestors.In fact, the dungeon keepers of olden days would probably drool with envy over some of our "creative" methods of torture.  The best they had was the old rack and bamboo splinters under the fingernails.   

Carl Jarvis

----- Original Message -----

From: Miriam Vieni

To: 'Blind Democracy Discussion List'

Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2012 6:13 PM

Subject: Pelican Bay Prison: One Year Later, Policy Remains "Debrief or Die"

Pelican Bay Prison: One Year Later, Policy Remains "Debrief or Die"
Saturday, 30 June 2012 00:00 By Victoria Law, Truthout | News Analysis


Pelican Bay Prison: One Year Later, Policy Remains "Debrief or Die"
Saturday, 30 June 2012 00:00 By Victoria Law, Truthout | News Analysis
Robert Luca, an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison who was a gang member,
looking out the grates of his cell, near Crescent City, California, February
10, 2012.
In October 1990, only months after being transferred to Pelican Bay's
Security Housing Unit (SHU), Todd Ashker was shot in the right wrist by a
prison guard. "This nearly severed my hand from my wrist and caused severe
damage to hand, wrist and forearm," he recounted. Ashker stated that he was
denied medical care, including pain management, and was told by medical
staff, "If you want better care, get out of SHU. It's your choice." Only
after he won a court injunction in February 2010 was he given an arm brace
and physical therapy. [Letter from Todd Ashker, November 13, 2011.] Ashker's
experience is the norm rather than the exception. "Prisoners with medical
concerns are routinely told by prison officials that if they want better
medical care for their conditions or illnesses, or improved pain management,
the way to obtain adequate care is to debrief," states a federal lawsuit
filed by Ashker and other SHU prisoners.
On July 1, 2011, Ashker and thousands of other prisoners went on hunger
strike to protest such draconian conditions. As reported in Truthout last
year, for three weeks, at least 1,035 of the 1,111 inmates locked in the SHU
refused food. In the SHU, which comprises half of California's Pelican Bay
State Prison, prisoners are locked into their cells for at least 22 hours a
day. Over 500 people have been confined in the SHU for over a decade, over
200 for more than 15 years and 78 for over 20 years. The only way that a
person can be released from the SHU is to debrief, or provide information
incriminating other prisoners. Even those who are eligible for parole have
been informed that they will not be granted parole so long as they are in
the SHU. "They are told they can debrief or die," stated Jules Lobel,
president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which recently filed a
federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of the SHU prisoners. [Press
conference by phone, May 31, 2012.]
The Pelican Bay hunger strike spread to 13 other state prisons and, at its
height, involved at least 6,600 people incarcerated throughout California.
"We have decided to put our fate in our own hands. Some of us have already
suffered a slow, agonizing death in which the state has shown no compassion
toward these dying prisoners." Mutope DuGuma, one of the hunger strike
representatives, wrote in the original announcement for the hunger strike.
"No one wants to die. Yet under this current system of what amounts to
immense torture, what choice do we have? If one is to die, it will be on our
own terms."
The hunger strikers at Pelican Bay issued five core demands:
3. Eliminate group punishments for individual rules violations;
4. Abolish the debriefing policy and modify active/inactive gang status
criteria;
5. Comply with the recommendations of the 2006 US Commission on Safety
and Abuse in Prisons regarding an end to long-term solitary confinement;
6. Provide adequate food;
7. Expand and provide constructive programs and privileges for
indefinite SHU inmates.
In September, when the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) failed to address these demands, prisoners resumed
their hunger strike. The strike spread to 12 prisons inside California as
well as to prisons in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma that housed
California prisoners. On October 13, prisoners at Pelican Bay ended their
nearly three-week hunger strike after the CDCR guaranteed a comprehensive
review of every prisoner in California whose SHU sentence is related to gang
validation under new criteria. Two days later, hunger strikers at Calipatria
State Prison stopped their strike to allow time to regain their strength.
Hunger strikers were issued write-ups for "leading a riot or strike or
causing others to commit acts of force and violence," stated a hunger strike
representative. [Letter from Paul Redd, December 29, 2011.]