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| Reform could transfer hundreds of inmates out of isolation units |
| By californiawatch.org - Michael Montgomery and Sarah Terry-Cobo |
| Published: 10/27/2011 |
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Hundreds of California prisoners locked in stark segregation units could be transferred to regular prison cells under new policies being developed by state corrections officials. The transfers could include inmates who have been held for decades at Pelican Bay State Prison’s windowless Security Housing Unit, which was the center of two recent hunger strikes that drew participation from thousands of inmates. Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are planning to review the files of every prisoner now housed in the state’s four Security Housing Units. They will retroactively apply new criteria determining who is placed in the facilities and for how long, according to an Oct. 13 memo signed by corrections Undersecretary Scott Kernan, who retired last week. “Those who no longer meet the criteria would be released from the SHU (Security Housing Unit),” states the memo, which also was signed by representatives of four advocacy groups and distributed to inmates. Officials confirmed the document’s accuracy. At issue is the system used by the department to identify, or validate, inmates as members or associates of one of seven prison gangs. According to state law, an associate is an inmate who is “involved periodically or regularly” with members or associates of a gang. Formal identification of the inmate by the corrections department requires three independent pieces of evidence. But advocacy groups say the evidence used by the department, such as tattoos or drawings, often is vague and inaccurate. What’s more, they say the process does not always identify men involved in violent or illegal acts. Once validated, the inmate is locked in the special unit for an indeterminate term. Those inmates include so-called associates. According to department data obtained by California Watch, 79 percent of the inmates being held in the special units are classified as prison gang associates rather than full-fledged members. Read More. |
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