Pelican Bay SHU
is the largest and
most notorious of the California SHUs. It is a 1,056 cell X- shaped above
ground bunker. In January of 1995 Judge Thelton Henderson ruled for the
Northern District Federal Court that CDoC officials and Pelican Bay staff
were operating in violation of the United States Constitution. Judge
Henderson ruled that prisoners were subjected to excessive force and
beatings and gratuitous
violence covered up by the administration. Medical care and
psychiatric services were deemed deliberately and maliciously
neglectful. Since the decision prisoners report that beatings and
particularly racist assaults have persisted. Since the suit, prisoners
are subjected to random punishment by placement in plastic (Lexan)
covered cells. In late 1995, CDoC opened a psychiatric treatment
center in the adjacent maximum security facility in which prisoners
are housed in SHU-like conditions- unacknowledged is the fact that
prisoners with psychiatric disabilities are being disciplined and
sentenced to SHU conditions for behavior caused by their illness.
VSPW is the newest womens
prison in California. Together with its model across the road, it is
part of the largest womens prison in the world. The SHU is a
42 cell solitary confinement unit. The women suffer degrading
treatment, threats, corporal punishment and sexual harassment.
Male guards observe strip searches, showering and even gynecological
exams. The prisoners are given powerful psychiatric medication without
proper examinations for their normal responses to the conditions of
confinement. The noise in the unit is extreme and untreated
mentally ill women yell day and night. Prisoners with serious illness
including AIDS are kept in the unit, their medical complaints ignored.
The Corcoran SHU holds 1000 men.
Between 1988 and 1996 guards at Corcoran set up daily "gladiator fights"
between prisoners. Known enemies were released by guards to small group
yards. Fights were certain. Guards bet on the outcome and videotaped
the events for future viewing. Only after the winner was clearly
established did the guards break up the fight by firing 37mm wooden bullets
at the men. High power rifles were also used and seven prisoners died as a
result. Hundreds of prisoners were involved and received injuries, longer
sentences and new charges including third strikes resulting in life
sentences. The "gladiator fights" were used to create a demand for a more
secure facility at Pelican Bay- and to provide the prisoners to initially
fill it. Additionally. the beating of prisoners - "baton practice" - was
carried out by guards on new shipments of prisoners as an introduction
to Corcorans special brand of routine torture.
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About CPF
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The Prison Situation
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Comments or questions E-mail California
Prison Focus
Voice Mail 415.452.3359 - Phone 415.252.9211
2940 16th Street #100 SF, CA 94103