Pelican Bay State Prison

08/22/2011

"Solitary Confinement Should be a Last Resort"

By Rachel Myers, ACLU at 12:39pm

That is the title of this excellent editorial in the Washington Post, which takes on the issue of solitary confinement recently brought into the national spotlight by the hunger striking prisoners in California's Pelican Bay State Prison and other facilities across the state.

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.

07/08/2011

Pelican Bay State Prison

Starving For Better Conditions in California Prisons

By Amy Fettig, ACLU National Prison Project at 12:54pm

How terrible would things have to be for you to stop eating and possibly starve yourself to death? For prisoners in California, their conditions of confinement — severe and prolonged isolation in small, windowless concrete boxes — have reached that level. Prisoners in California are now on a hunger strike, protesting inhumane conditions in Pelican Bay State Prison.

American Civil Liberties Union