California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

10/03/2011

California Prisoners on Hunger Strike Again to Protest Solitary Confinement

By Rebecca McCray, ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project & Tanya Greene, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 3:46pm

In July, hundreds of prisoners confined in Pelican Bay State Prison and nine other California correctional facilities protested the heinous conditions of their confinement with the only means they had: their ability to peacefully refuse food. After the prisoners starved for three weeks, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) agreed to a policy review of its solitary confinement, or Security Housing Units (SHU), where prisoners are confined alone in tiny, windowless concrete cells, often for years on end. With that agreement, the prisoners ended their hunger strike.

08/24/2011

Solitary Confinement

California Can Reform Solitary Confinement

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 11:26am

California's overuse of solitary confinement is inhumane, costly and jeopardizes public safety by ignoring the fact that normal human contact is essential for ensuring successful re-entry and reducing recidivism rates.

Now, following a weeks-long hunger strike by inmates that brought California's use of solitary into the national spotlight, the California legislature is considering making some positive policy changes.

08/05/2011

Pelican Bay State Prison

Correcting Corrections: Chuck Solitary

By Hector Villagra, ACLU of Southern California at 2:49pm

The Pelican Bay hunger strike has ended, but the conversation about solitary confinement must continue. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) must change its policies on solitary confinement for many persuasive reasons. Some may point to the vast number of studies that have found long-term solitary confinement to be psychologically harmful. A 2003 University of California, Santa Cruz, study, for example, found that months or years of isolation causes inmates to suffer from chronic apathy, lethargy, depression, despair, and irrational anger.

American Civil Liberties Union