When these concerns were raised "during Amnesty International's meetings with CDCR staff in November 2011, the department stressed that there were inmates in the SHU with serious gang connections, but acknowledged that they "over-validated' and that there were prisoners in the SHU who did not warrant such a restrictive level of housing. CDCR also acknowledged that there were people assigned to the SHU as gang associates who had no direct role in gang activity. CDCR stated that the reforms under consideration were aimed at making the system fairer as well as targeting resources more effectively, taking into account the high cost of SHU confinement and the need to manage a tight budget. Amnesty International was told that the process would ultimately reduce the SHU population to ensure that only prisoners who could not be safely housed in a less secure setting would be assigned to the SHU."
The bottom line of this important new report: "Amnesty International considers that the conditions of isolation and other deprivations imposed on prisoners in California's SHU units breach international standards on humane treatment, and that prolonged or indefinite isolation, and the severe social and environmental deprivation existing in Pelican Bay SHU in particular, constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in violation of international law."
Unfortunately, getting the US to respect international law is not as clear-cut as the act of documenting human rights violations. Notably, The Edge of Endurance explains: "The USA has sought to limit the application of international human rights law in its conduct by entering reservations to article 7 of the ICCPR [International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] and article 16 of the Convention against Torture as a condition of ratifying the treaties. The reservations state that the US considers itself bound by the articles only to the extent that "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment' means the "cruel and unusual treatment or punishment' prohibited under the US Constitution. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the USA to withdraw its reservations as defeating the object and purpose of the treaties in question and therefore incompatible with international law."
Last week, on October 10, following a public call to end racial hostilities among California prisoners, another hunger strike was initiated at Pelican Bay, with 500 prisoners statewide participating, according to the CDCR.
Tessa Murphy is the campaigner for the USA team at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. She has provided the research for and worked on Amnesty's reports on supermax prisons and solitary confinement through her visits to a number of prisons, including the recent visit to California SHUs as part of the team that published the report cited above, entitled The Edge of Endurance. She also authored Amnesty's special report on the Angola 3, entitled USA: 100 years in solitary: "The Angola 3' and their fight for justice.
A3N: In our introduction to this interview, we cite several key aspects of the recent Amnesty International report about SHUs in California. As someone who visited these prisons as part of the Amnesty delegation, what did you learn about them first hand that perhaps can't be conveyed in a written report? What did the SHUs feel like?
TM: It is hard to convey the sense of desolation in the SHU's. From the moment you step foot in the SHU, the senses are assailed by artificial lights, stale air and muted silence.
Off long drab corridors, prisoners are isolated from each other in pods of eight cells; these pods are self-contained with a shower and recreation yard, so that, with few exceptions, they rarely leave the pod.
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