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June
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2015
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MOVING FORWARD WITH OUR FIGHT
TO END SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

By Todd Ashker
reetings of solidarity and respect
to all similarly situated members
of the prison class unified in our
struggle to end long term solitary confinement and win related long overdue reforms
to the broken California prison [torture]
system.
As one of the four principle prisoner
class representatives, I am presenting this
further update on where things stand with
our human rights movement from my perspective.
I personally believe the prisoncrats’ efforts to turn the global support we have
gained for our cause against us will fail. An
example is CDCr (California Department
of Corrections and rehabilitation) Secretary
Beard’s reliance on 20-40-year-old prison
history, much of it taken out of context and/
or telling only one – biased – side of the
story, which was transparently weak, for
the purpose of dehumanizing the prisoner
class in response to our global exposure
of CDCr’s decades long, state sanctioned
“policy” of torturing thousands of prisoners in SHU and Ad-Seg cells.
Such CDCr rhetoric indicates desperation – a very concerning desperation in the
sense that it is demonstrative of CDCr’s top
administrators’ intent to continue their culture of dehumanization, torture and other
types of abusive policies and practices.
See, for example, Corrections Secretary
Jeffrey Beard’s Los Angeles Times op ed of
Aug. 6, 2013, “Hunger strike in California
prisons is a gang power play.”)
California prisoncrats have little to no
credibility regarding most of their policies
and practices in what is a failed, multi-billion dollar fraudulent system. Our global
support remains strong and continues to

G

grow, as we patiently continue to observe
the progress of our evolving movement
with an eye on planning additional ways to
improve the effectiveness of our resistance,
as necessary, to achieve victory. Here’s
where things presently stand, from my perspective:
1) Our key demands remain unresolved.
The primary goal is abolishing indefinite
SHU and Ad Seg confinement and related
torturous conditions therein: The abolishment of the debriefing policy and meaningful individual accountability. (Note:
CDCr’s Security Threat Group-Step Down
Program policy is NOT responsive to our
demands for numerous reasons. See our
prior statements rejecting said policy.)
2) Our class-action civil suit continues
to proceed; the court recently allowed us
to supplement our claims to include SHU
conditions at the other three SHUs across
the state in addition to Pelican Bay. And the
trial date remains set for December 2015.
The case is looking solid, with excellent
support from 10 experts, and our outside
supporters are ramping up their supportive
actions to keep the public’s attention on our
cause.
3) The legislative aspect is presently on
hold to a large extent. I will add that legislators Tom Ammiano and Loni Hancock
kept their word and held two joint Public
Safety Committee hearings regarding our
issues, in October 2013 and February 2014,
and they each tried their best to get legislation passed, responsive to our five core
demands.
Their courageous efforts were stymied
by the CDCr and CCPOA (guards union),
using their political influence over Gov.
Brown and many lawmakers. All of them
took active roles in squashing Ammiano’s

bill as well as repeatedly amending Hancock’s bill to the point of it being of very
little relevance to our five core demands,
thereby resulting in withdrawal of much of
our outside support and finally Hancock’s
withdrawal of the bill.
Gov. Brown and the other lawmakers
who opposed these two bills are thus exposed as CDCr prisoncrat collaborators.
Their acts and failure to act regarding
CDCr prisoncrats’ indefinite SHU-solitary
confinement policies and practices we
helped expose to the world via our prisoner
class collective’s mass peaceful protest actions between 2011 and 2013 make them
supportive enablers of torture. And they
need to be constantly exposed as such.
Keep in mind that since we formed the
PBSP Short Corridor Collective in early
2011 (now known as the Prisoner-class
Human Rights Collective), we have made a
lot of positive progress in a relatively short
amount of time. And it’s important to note
that those who formed the collective are
now in stronger positions, capable of being
more effective now that many of the collective members have been transferred out of
Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) to other
prisons via CDCr’s Step-Down Program,
enabling them to more effectively promote
our Agreement to End Race-Based Hostilities.
This is directly related to our overall
strategy on prison reform – our primary
goal being to end long term SHU and Ad
Seg confinement. Our secondary goal is
to bring an end to CDCr’s abusive exploitation of the prisoner class, inclusive of
our outside loved ones. That is related to
CDCr’s failure to adhere to the legislative
mandate to prioritize public safety via the
rank and file staff’s “promotion of prison-

er-on-prisoner violence” in order to justify
the ongoing endless warehousing of tens of
thousands of prisoners in the general population prisons across the state, especially in
the Level 4 institutions.
Thereby, our goal is to limit the violence
amongst the prisoner class and thus end the
justification for indefinite massive warehousing. This forces prisoncrats to open up
the general population prisons and use the
billions of dollars budgeted annually for
the purpose intended by the people: to promote public safety via programs beneficial
to prisoners, our outside loved ones and society in general.
This includes allowing lifers’ to once
again have conjugal visits with their loved
ones on a regular basis, because maintaining close family ties is a well known,
proven method of rehabilitation, including
the reduction of violence in the prison environment.
And we are additionally hoping our example of effective collective unity for the
benefit of all those who are similarly situated behind these walls will be followed by
the working class poor in the communities.
We are in a protracted struggle against
a powerful entity that includes an element
with a fascist police state mentality and related agenda. We are fighting to make major changes to the way prisoners and our
outside loved ones are viewed by society
and treated in the prison system – inclusive
of more than 30 years of well entrenched
cultural policies that exploitatively dehumanize the prisoner class in order to subject them to systematic, state sanctioned
torturous treatment and brutal conditions
that have been condemned by international
treaty law.
We cannot allow this to continue. We
have taken a stand against it, and we must
continue to do our part, collectively, from
behind these walls, to end such malignant
practices.
The reason for our progress is our empowering collective unity inside and outside these walls, the unity amongst prisoners, our outside loved ones and other
supporters. Our efforts have helped to
expose horrendous, immoral treatment of
tens of thousands of incarcerated men and
women, nationwide for decades. And we
gratefully acknowledge the world interest,
support and outraged condemnation of the
United States prison industrial complex’
torture regime openly occurring in public
institutions.
I believe it’s important for people out2

side who support our cause to be able to
effectively counter the prisoncrats’ propagandist, dehumanizing rhetoric, as well as
their ability to educate the public in general
as to what’s really going on in this system
– the current CDCr annual budget is more
than $l2 billion – and it is for this purpose
that I include the below points.
1) Prisoncrats’ claim that “CDCr does not
confine any prisoners in solitary confinement; nor do we torture prisoners.” These
self-serving claims are demonstrably false.
Prisoncrats – the “civil servants” within
the prison industrial complex, which is related to the military and homeland security
complex, all being utilized in the class war
on the working class poor – have been utilizing coercive brainwashing and torture
techniques to exploit, manipulate and control prisoners and the related working class
poor in the communities since the early
1960s. These techniques are modeled on
those created by the Russians and used on
American POWs by the Chinese during the
Korean War (1950-1953).
Such techniques were subsequently
studied – per CIA and military directives
– by psychologists, psychiatrists and social scientists, resulting in two influential
texts published in 1961: “The Manipulation of Human Behavior” and “The Power
to Change Behavior.” The latter “became
a theoretical and practical foundation for
the behavior modification programs that
shaped U.S. domestic prison policy in the
1960s and ‘70s. Both publications were
heavily indebted to the literature on ‘Communist’ thought reform and sensory deprivation and both yielded specific techniques
for the production of social death, both
within the United States and beyond,” according to an excellent book on the history
of solitary confinement in the U.S. called
“Solitary Confinement: Social Death and
its Afterlives” by Lisa Guenther, 2013.
Further support is the 1961 symposium,
“The Power to Change Behavior,” convened in Washington D.C., by the Bureau
of Prisons (BOP). It brought together prison
wardens and behavioral scientists – including Edgar Schein, an important researcher
on Chinese Communist thought reform to
consider how prisoners could be “treated”
with behavior modification therapy.
“Edgar Schein’s contribution to the symposium, ‘Man Against Man: Brainwashing,’ draws on his 1953 research (published
in 1956) on Communist brainwashing techniques to reflect on how these techniques
might be used to reform U.S. domestic

prisoners. Schein was a professor at the
MIT Sloan School of Management (then
the School of Industrial Management). After publication of his 1971 book, ‘Coercive
Interrogation,’ he went on to have a highly
successful career in corporate and organizational psychology” (Guenther, “Solitary
Confinement,” pages 84-87).
At the symposium, “Schein put forward a
set of ‘practical recommendations,’ throwing ethics and morals out the window. They
include: physical removal of prisoners to
areas sufficiently isolated to break or seriously weaken close emotional ties; segregation of all natural leaders; spying on
prisoners, reporting back private material;
exploitation of opportunists and informers;
convincing prisoners they can trust no one;
systematic withholding of mail; building
a group conviction among prisoners that
they have been abandoned by or are totally isolated from their social order; using
techniques of character invalidation, i.e.,
humiliation, revilement and shouting to induce feelings of fear, guilt and suggestibility; coupled with sleeplessness, an exacting
prison regimen and periodic interrogational
interviews” (Nancy Kershan, “Out of Control: A Fifteen Year Battle Against Control
Unit Prisons,” page 12-13).
Of course, these brainwashing techniques have been refined and perfected
over the course of the past 60 years, such
as techniques the British have used on Irish
Republicans and similar tactics refined by
the West German government to try and
destroy the Red Army Faction, who were
fighting the imperialism in their country,
related to a large extent to West German
government leaders adhering to the dictates
of the U.S. government. And these are the
techniques applied to prisoners confined
in this country’s “control unit” prisons, as
summarized with reference to specific examples in my Dec. 30, 2014, article “The
way forward to end solitary confinement
torture: Where’s the army?” posted on the
San Francisco Bay View website on Jan.
25, 2015.
Indeed, the control unit prison environment and effects thereof on the “living beingness” of those subjected to it are much
more damaging than most people can imagine. Of course, one who studied the subject,
obtaining a doctorate degree in the related
fields of psychology and psychiatry, would
be well versed in these effects, as I’m sure
CDCr Secretary Beard is.
Examples of this are taken from Lisa
Guenther’s book, “Solitary Confinement,”
Rock!

shared below in rebuttal to CDCr’s claims:
“We don’t operate solitary confinement
– nor do we subject prisoners to sensory
deprivation or torturous conditions in our
SHU and Ad Seg Units.” This and the following quotes are taken from Beard’s LA
Times op ed of Aug. 6, 2013, in which he
states that “all SHU cells have outside facing windows” and “At Pelican Bay, all cells
have skylights.” These are boldfaced lies.
“Inmates have TVs and radios.” This is
true only if you can afford to purchase your
own, and many can’t.
“They have weekly access to a law library.” This is a boldfaced lie. You might
get access once a month.
“They have daily exercise time.” In Pelican Bay SHU, you may go to “yard” for
one and a half hours per day, depending on
circumstances from day to day. The “yard”
is akin to a concrete cell, absent a toilet and
water unit. You’re on camera, by yourself,
unless you’re one of the few who have a
cellmate.
“Many have cell-mates.” Very few have
cellmates.
“They can earn degrees.” There are only
a few openings, and one must pay for the
required books; most prisoners can’t afford
it.
“They send and receive letters.” Mail is
one of the things IGI and other staff withhold and play games with.
“Their family and friends visit them every weekend.” Due to the isolated location
of Pelican Bay, most prisoners never receive a visit.
“This is not ‘solitary confinement,’ in that
prisoners can have visitors and, in many
cases, interaction with other inmates.”
As described in my Dec. 30, 2014, article referenced above, the control unit
environment is designed for the purpose
of enabling prisoncrats to maximize their
ability to dehumanize and psychologically
exploit prisoners in order to coerce them
into becoming informants for the state. One
tactic is to place a prisoner of one race in a
pod – a pod consists of eight cells – totally
isolated from his social group. This can and
does go on for years.
From Guenther’s “Solitary Confinement” (2013): “What is it like to be confined in a supermax unit? A typical cell
ranges in size from 6 feet by 8 feet to 8 feet
by 12 feet; it is part of a ‘pod’ of eight to 10
cells arranged into two tiers. Cells are usually painted white or pale grey to reduce visual stimulus. Furnishings consist of a bed,
table and seat, a toilet and sink – all bolted
Volume 4, Number 5

in place. [In California’s SHUs, all are concrete and steel].
“The door is constructed of perforated
stainless steel resembling a dense wire
mesh that obstructs the prisoner’s view to
the outside while allowing some natural
light to filter through along with the sounds
and smells of adjoining cells, or even the
pepper spray used on prisoners during cell
extractions.
“There is a slot in the door, called a
cuff port, tray port, meal port or pie flap,
through which food trays are exchanged
and the prisoner’s hands cuffed or uncuffed
for removal from the cell. There are either
no windows at all or just a small, high window that lets in light but does not afford
any view of the outside. Surveillance via
listening devices and cameras is constant.
“Prisoners are confined in solitude for
22 to 23.5 hours a day, with the remaining time spent – again, in solitude – in an
outdoor exercise yard, surrounded by concrete or tightly woven security mesh walls
that offer little or no view of the outside
and only a small glimpse of the sky. These
yards are often called ‘dog pens’ or ‘dog
runs’ because of their resemblance to an
outdoor kennel. Remotely operated doors
allow prison staff to release prisoners from
their cells for showers or exercise without
coming into contact with them. Depending
on the prisoner’s level of good behavior,
they may be given access to books, radio,
television …
“A prisoner in a Control Unit can for
years, even decades, go without experiencing any form of touch beyond the chaining
and unchaining of wrists through the cuff
port in the door. ... Officers are entitled
to perform strip searches ... Often, these
searches are conducted as a matter of routine. ...
“What would it be like to have one’s
bodily contact with others reduced to the
fastening and unfastening of restraints,
punctuated with the most intimate probing
of the surface and depths of one’s body?
Not to be able to speak to anyone except
through intercom or by yelling through a
slot in the door? To be kept in solitude and
yet exposed to constant surveillance and to
the echoing noise of other prisoners? What
would it be like to be prevented from having a concrete experience of open, unrestricted space? Not to see the sky or the horizon for days, weeks or even years on end?
“It is impossible to imagine. ... Prisoners
in solitary confinement are, by definition,
excluded from the looping effects of social

interaction; they are isolated in their cells,
with no one to see or to look back at them,
no one to touch or to receive their touch.
And yet, precisely by virtue of their forced
isolation, prisoners’ situation is mediated
by countless others: the guards who keep
them, feed them and monitor their activities; the wardens who oversee the guards;
the prison review board that continues their
isolation every 90 days [In California, it’s
180 days.]; ... and us, the public who tolerate their ongoing isolation, even (or especially) if we are not even aware of it.
“Supermax prisoners are unperceived
and unimaginable ‘others,’ but they are our
others, and a society that practices longterm, wide-scale solitary confinement cannot help but be shaped by our (non)relation
to those who have been ‘disappeared’ but
who remain among us, and sometimes return to haunt us.
“Many prisoners speak of their experience in supermax prison as a form of living
death. On the one hand, their bodies still
live and breathe, eat and defecate, wake and
sleep (often with difficulty). On the other
hand, a meaningful sense of living embodiment has for the most part drained out of
their lives; they’ve become unhinged from
the world, confined to a space in which all
they can do is turn around or pace back and
forth, blocked from an open-ended perception of the world as a space of mutual belonging and interaction with others …
“[P]rolonged
solitary
confinement
amounts to a production of something like
schizophrenia in the prisoner (MerleauPonty, 2002, page 335). I argue that supermax confinement is not a solution to
the problem of finding a place to keep ‘the
worst of the worst’ from harming others.
It is – among other things – a technology
for producing what one could call mental
illness, if ‘mental’ were not too narrow a
term to express the complex intertwining
of body, mind and world that I have undertaken to describe.
“Prolonged solitary confinement in a
control prison threatens to exhaust the otherwise inexhaustible horizons of perceptual
experience by blocking prisoners’ concrete
experience of depth in its spatial affective
and social dimensions. It leaves prisoners
feeling like their lives have been drained of
meaning, like they are dead within life, no
longer of space but merely in it” (Guenther,
pages 161-194).
2) Related to the above, is my response
to those who question the position that we
are in a class war, inclusive of policies and
3

practices referenced herein, I will add my
viewpoint of personally seeing our struggle
for human rights and dignity in these prisons as being directly related to the war being waged against the working class poor
in this nation – going on for far too long
now. And that’s the point I’ve intended
when various media reporters have taken
my words out of context.
The imperialistic, fascist police state
elitists’ abusive exploitation of the working
class poor is out of control, and the only
way for people to bring about meaningful
change is to come together collectively.
This includes the prisoner class, which is a
microcosm of the working class poor, with
most prisoners being casualties of the class
war.
Related to this class war is CDCr prisoncrats’ intentional, systematic, state sanctioned torture regime for the diabolical purpose of breaking prisoners, using coercive
sensory deprivation and other brainwashing
techniques. One only needs pay attention to
the consistent use of methods designed to
dehumanize the prisoner class, especially
those in SHU, and thereby psychologically
indoctrinate those in control of said prisoners with a mental image of the subhuman
“other” thereby ensuring a continuation of
the culture of malignant abuse.
This position regarding intentionality of
CDCr prisoncrats’ continual dehumanization of the prisoner class is supported by
more than 100 years of scientific study
and experimentation, as exemplified in the
various books covering the subject. As you
read the following excerpts, remember –
CDCr Secretary Beard holds at least one
doctorate degree in psychology.
From Stanford Professor Phillip Zimbardo’s book, “The Lucifer Effect – Understanding How Good People Turn Evil,” At
p. 307 “Dehumanization and Moral Disengagement”
“… Dehumanization is central construct in our understanding of ‘man’s
inhumanity to man.’ Dehumanization
occurs whenever some human beings
consider other human beings to be excluded from the moral order of being a
human person. The objects of this psychological process lose their human
status in the eyes of their dehumanizers. By identifying certain individuals
or groups as being outside the sphere
of humanity, dehumanizing agents
suspend the morality that might typically govern reasoned actions toward
their fellows.
4

Dehumanization is a central process in prejudice, racism and discrimination. Dehumanization stigmatizes
others, attributing to them a ‘spoiled
identity.’ Under such conditions, it becomes possible for moral, morally upright and even idealistic people to perform acts of destructive cruelty. Not
responding to the human qualities of
other persons automatically facilitates
inhumane actions. The golden rule becomes truncated: ‘Do unto others as
you would.’ It is easier to be callous or
rude toward dehumanized ‘objects,’ to
ignore their demands and pleas, to use
them for your own purposes, even to
destroy them if they are irritating…”
At pp. 311-312, “In Faces of the
Enemy, Sam Keen shows how archetypes of the enemy are created by visual propaganda that most nations use
against those judged to be dangerous
‘them,’ ‘outsiders,’ ‘enemies.’ …Such
propaganda has been widely practiced
on a worldwide scale… In creating a
new evil enemy in the minds of good
members of righteous tribes, ‘the enemy’ is: aggressor, faceless, rapist,
godless, barbarian, greedy, criminal,
torturer, murderer, an abstraction, or a
dehumanize animal…”
Taking the above into context, those
people who pay attention will recognize
the correlative relevance to what I’ve been
pointing out: The fascist-elitist: in power
positions in this country have been waging an all-out, ever expanding war upon the
working class poor (inclusive of the prisoner class). Support is self-evident, when
we consider the constant bombardment of
propagandist war-monger rhetoric that the
masses are subject to 24/7, vial the government controlled mainstream media. Examples are: “The War on Crime,” “The War on
Drugs,” “The War on Gangs,” “The War on
the Worst of the Worst.”
Those in power have been using this
fear mongering – dehumanizing propagandist tactic in response to our societal social
problems, keeping the people in a never
ending war: AGAINST EACH OTHER,
while being constantly exploited by those
in power, in countless other ways. And the
underlying root causes of our major societal problems remain unresolved. (Number One of which is the growing unequal
distribution of wealth.) As Einstein so eloquently stated, “We can’t solve problems
by using the same kind of thinking we used
when we created them.”

I will add, it’s important to note that
California prisoners and our outside loved
ones, treatment/ conditions under the malignantly manipulative leadership of CDCr
Secretary Beard, have not gotten better.
They have actually gotten worse when one
examines the ‘new’ police state type regulations implemented over the course of the
past three years. For example:
a. “The Security Threat Group Step
Down Program” policy, which will ultimately enable prisoncrats to greatly expand
upon the numbers of prisoners entombed
indefinitely in SHU cells.
b. The expansion of the so-called ‘obscenity’ policy, which criminalizes any/all
prisoner (and public) writings critical of
prisoncrats dehumanizing abuse of power,
and c. the mandated drug testing of all prisoners, together with subjecting all visitors
to invasive searches and drug sniffing dogs,
based on Beard’s crusade to rid prisons of
drugs. (Beard’s pretextual support for this
is his underlings fraudulent manipulation
of ‘random’ voluntary prisoner drug tests
that allegedly demonstrated more than 25%
of the population was on dope?? Most of
the ‘dirty tests’ were from people on their
medically prescribed meds.) The above
examples are textbook tactics, historically
employed by fascists. This type of tactics
that are always initiated against the marginalized, disenfranchised segments of a society, and incrementally expanded to include
the rest of a society. Under Beard’s watch,
the system will continue to be a multi-billion dollar failure.
The deeply rooted culture of abuse will
continue as long as leadership utilizes old
policies and practices, expanding on them,
in spite of such being proven failures and
violations of human rights. CDCr’s exploitative dehumanization of the prisoner class
must end. As summarized from the above
excerpts taken from Professor Zimbardo’s
book, such dehumanization is for the sole
purpose of perpetuating the cultural climate of endless abuse of prisoners, and
our outside loved ones. Such is contrary to
the principles of a society which promotes
‘evolving standards of decency.’
It’s disturbing Governor Brown would
appoint a malignant psycho-doctor like
Beard, to run an already twisted prison system? Secretary Beard is an opportunistic,
career Corrections Administrator (a malignant torturer of prisoners) with a doctorate
degree in various types of psychology. Prior to his appointment as CDCr’s Secretary
he spent more than 30 years in the PennsylRock!

vania prison system, retiring as the director
of that system. He was subsequently hired
as an expert witness by lawyers representing California prisoners in the class action
case, Coleman-Plata regarding mental and
medical care violations, and he testified before the Federal Court in 2010 and 2011,
declaring the systematic problems re mental health care violations in the California
system had not been fixed, only to flip-flop
on his* position a few months later, after
Governor Brown made a deal to hire him
to run the California system, with an annual salary of nearly $300,000. (in addition to his large pension from Pennsylvania). Once he became CDCr’s Secretary,
Beard submitted a declaration on behalf
of the State, claiming the problems regarding mental health care had to be fixed. He
did this at a time when CDCr prisoncrats
were regularly subjecting mentally ill prisoners to gallons of pepper spray, prior to
brutally beating them, resulting in at least
one prisoner’s death, which prisoncrats attempted to cover up. No big deal in a system operating with a long standing culture
of dehumanizing prisoners; placing them
on sub-human status with the support and
enablement of lawmakers.
Also notable is, under Beard’s watch in
Pennsylvania, the system instituted its own
brand of additional, torturous sensory deprivation, via the creation of a unit for the
‘worst of the worst.’ In this unit, prisoners
are in solitary confinement cells, deprived
of virtually all reading material, including
newspapers and magazines. Apparently, the
only reading material allowed is a fictional
book, once in awhile; no personal photographs, etc., a draconian policy upheld by
the U.S. Supreme Court (See: Beard v.
Banks, 548 U.S. 5 2 126 S. Ct. 2527(2006).
With the above points in mind it no surprise to see the fascist policies of malignant oppression occurring under Beard’s
watch in California. This is the purpose
for which he was appointed by Governor
Brown, without opposition from California
prisoncrats and the CCPOA guards union.
They allowed appointment of this outsider
without a peep.
3. In response to those who pose the
question, “Why should we care about
what’s going on in prisons?”: There are
many reasons for people to care, including
their civic responsibilities, citizens need to
be conscious of what their elected representatives are doing in their name. Here’s
a few more examples of why it’s in The
Peoples’ best interests to care, and in carVolume 4, Number 5

ing, hold those they allow to be in power
accountable:
(a) We, as a people, do not condone the
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of our fellow
human beings, under any circumstances.
Such practices are not in keeping with our
nation as an international, public stance of
being a protector of human rights, nor is
it in keeping with our society’s ‘evolving
standards of decency.’
Our nation’s prisons are intended ‘for
the purpose of punishing convicted offenders humanely. Our U.S. Constitution’s
Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. We know that most of
our imprisoned people will be released one
day and it’s contrary to society’s interests
to have people returning to society much
worse than when they went in, especially
not after being subjected to years of exploitative, dehumanizing techniques, inclusive of the worst type of physical and
psychological torture(s), that most people
will never be able to imagine.
It’s no secret our nation incarcerates
more people than any other nation on the
planet; not surprising when we consider the
fact that those in power have exploited the
masses, the working class poor, via promotion of an endless state of war upon each
other – War on Crime, War on Drugs, War
on Gangs, War on the People. It’s also no
secret that our nation subjects between
25,000 to 80,000 to a type of intentional
sensory deprived solitary confinement, as
an ultimate control mechanism, designed
for the purpose of completely severing
those relegated to worst of the worst, subhuman status from their own sense of ‘living beingness.’
In the California system tens of thousands of prisoners have been subjected to
an indefinite type of dehumanizing sensory
deprivation in SHU/AdSeg cells. Many
have been subjected to this endless form
of state sanctioned torture for decades. And
thousands of California prisoners have
collectively participated in three massive
peaceful protests, 2011-2013, thereby exposing this fact to the world. Such practices
are immoral and illegal.
According to ‘Restatement (Third) of
the Foreign Relations Law of the United
States, a state violates international law if,
as a matter of policy, it practices, encourages, or condones (d) torture or other cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, of (f) a consistent pattern of gross
violations of internationally recognized hu-

man rights.’
According to the Inter-American Court
of Human Rights, ‘prolonged isolation
and coercive solitary confinement are,
in themselves, cruel and inhuman treatments, damaging to the person’s psychic
and moral integrity, and it is his right to respect the dignity inherent to the human person.’ Velasquez v. Rodriguez case, InterAm.
Ct. H.R.(ser.C) No. 4, at p 156 (1988)
The United States is a party to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel
Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The CAT was ratified by
the U.S. in 1990. The CAT defines torture
as:
An act by which pain or suffering,
whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such
purposes as … punishing him for an
act he or a third person committed or
is suspected of having committed, or
intimidating or coercing him or a third
person, when such pain or suffering is
inflicted by or at the instigation of or
with the consent or acquiescence of a
public official or other person acting in
an official capacity.
There is no question of California’s intentional violation of international treaty
law via their policy and practice of subjecting prisoners to decades of indefinite
solitary confinement, one purpose of which
is to break the prisoner via brainwashingtorture techniques, so the prisoner agrees
to become an informant for the state (the
worst sort of coercion).
The conditions and effects thereof on
the person are summarized above. One additional point of support thsuch dehumanizing treatment, and related conditions,
cause severe pain to those prisoners (and
their outside loved ones) mercilessly subjected to such, is the studies conducted by
Matthew D. Lieberman, a Harvard trained
professor in the Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at
UCLA [check this abbrev.] In his book,
“Social …” Lieberman relies on MRI brain
studies and related experiments to support
the position that we respond to social pain
and pleasure in the same way we respond
to physical pain and pleasure. And social
paint may hurt more than physical pain.
“When asked what the most painful experience in our lives has been, most of us
do not recount an injury or a broken bone
---- we describe the death of a loved one
or the end of a marriage or a relationship.”
The studies also demonstrate that empa5

thized pain is real too… This supports what
people have known for a long time: social
isolation causes people to experience extreme pain. This includes the experience of
our loved ones, and people of conscience
who know of and thereby feel our suffering!!!
Another note from the … U.N. General
Assembly, July 28, 2008 [A/63/175], Sixty
Third Session, item 67 (a) of the provisional agenda.
IV. Solitary confinement, pages. 77-85
(pp. 17-20)
“When the element of psychological pressure is used on purpose as part
of isolation regimes such practices
become coercive and can amount to
torture.
At p. 24: Research indicates that
small group isolation in some circumstances may have similar effects to
solitary confinement and such regimes
should not be considered an appropriate alternative.”
And then, there’s the following from
the ACLU, October 17, 2014 report re
53rd Session of the Committee Against Torture.
ACLU Shadow Report to the 3rd to
th
5 of the United States, re: United States’
Compliance with the Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment --“Introduction:
2. The absolute prohibition of torture is
of fundamental importance to the United
States. As President Obama stated in his
address to the nation on national security,
delivered at the National Archives on May
21, 2009:
“I can stand here today, as President of the United States, and say
without exception or equivocation that
we do not torture, and that we will vigorously protect our people while forging a strong and durable framework
that allows us to fight terrorism while
abiding by the rule of law.
Most recently, in his May 23, 2013
speech at the National Defense University, the President reiterated that
the United States has ‘unequivocally
banned torture.”
Finally, let’s not forget the revelations in
late December 2014, re: Disclosure of the
December 9, 2014 release of the redacted
portion of Senate Intelligence Committee’s finding that the CIA tortured countless detainees [per Bush/Cheney, et. Al.
directives]… President Obama’s response
6

declared the past practices “Brutal, and as
I’ve said before, constituted torture in my
mind. And that’s not who we are.”
The above points, when considered in
context, of this nation’s blatant, ongoing
violation(s) of treaty law re: exploitative
torture of tens of thousands of prisoners
subject to long term solitary sensory deprived conditions of confinement, begs
the question: WHY??? Why are you [The
People] allowing these decades old policies
and practices of dehumanizing treatment
and torture to continue to be carried out
upon your fellow people --- the casualties
of the class war???
(b) The fact that CDCr’s current, annual
budget for this fiscal year is more than $12
Billion, while, most other social programs
are suffering from the past years of continual deep cuts (and the present push to substantially increase the tuition of College)
should cause The People to care!?!
This is $12 Billion going to a corrupt
State Agency, whose policies and practices
are 100% failure. We’re talking about a
state agency funded by Billions of Tax Payers dollars, each year, a state agency subject
to a legislative mandate to prioritize public
safety that has, for decades, done the opposite via a philosophy and culture of exploitative, dehumanization of the prisoner class,
for the purposes of:
The expansion, and related profit
of, the prison industrial complex; the
related factor being the fascist police
state type psychological ware on the
working class poor, and related mass
incarceration (including the expansion of the ‘control unit prison’), as
one means of keeping the masses in
check!!!
The CDCr system is an ongoing, multibillion dollar fraud on the tax payers. This
fraudulent scheme includes involvement
of most of our state lawmakers, who receive their share of kickbacks from various
prisoncrats, including the CCPOA guards
union.
People should care because there are
more than 7 million children going without
enough to eat every day. People should care
because we’re treating our fellow human
beings worse than our poultry and other
animals. [This is what our elected officials
are doing to SHU prisoners, in The Peoples
name!!!]
(c) People should care because
historically fascist police-state regimes occur
incrementally via the initial oppression of the
marginalized, disenfranchised members of

society. Usually such oppressive action is
taken based on the governments claim that
such is necessary ‘to protect the peoples
freedoms.'
The fact that there is an element with an
expanding police state agenda in this nation
is not a secret, and an excellent book pointing to specific examples of this, with reference to similar historical events resulting
in fascist regimes, is Naomi Wolf’s “The
End of America – A Letter of Warning to a
Young Patriot.”
In typical fashion, these police state tactics are being bourne out by CDCr’s dehumanizing police state practices of torture
and other malignant oppression presently
being expanded upon, to further oppress
the working class poor people in the communities.
A current prime example of this the San
Diego District Attorney’s Office’rs recent
use of a clause in the (year 2000) Proposition 21, which states that ‘anyonewho
benefits from gang activity can be charged
with conspiracy.’ This is being applied to
anyone who is entered in the “California
Gang Database, created as per Prop 21 provisions referenced above.
People are entered into the database
based on meeting two or more criteria that
is for the most based on the subjective view
of the officer who enters one into the database, no questions asked. The gang conspiracy charge is being applied to everyone who is affiliated, any time anyone of
the other affiliates commit a gang related
crime.
Those familiar with CDCr’s alleged
‘gang management’ policy(s) will note the
correlation between the Prop. 21 provisions
and CDCr’s policy [implemented in 2008,
of using 3 or more items to validate a prisoner as a gang affiliate, and thereby on the
basis of said classification, alone, result is
SHU placement indefinitely, where they remain until they parole, die or go insane or
debrief [become an informant for the state].
Keep in mind the additionally more recent policies of oppression implemented
under Beard’s watch, referenced above. I
urge people to pay close attention to what
is going on in San Diego because, if successful, such tactics will be used statewide,
with the result of anyone with a sliver of
association with someone in the gang database can be arrested and charged with
conspiracy.
People should care because the CDCr
tactics referenced in this document will in
time all be implemented in our communiRock!

ties, if people continue to sit back and fail
to hold lawmakers accountable
What people can do: Resist! Using peaceful actions, fight for what’s right via coordinated, collective efforts inside and outside
these walls!! In early 2011, our collective
drew the line and said “ENOUGH!” We,
the prisoner class, will no longer complacently accept being dehumanized, subject
to the social death and related endless torture many of us have been forced to endure
in this tomb of non-living death for three or
more decades with no end in sight!
Prior to our peaceful actions beginning
in 2011, the prisoner class, being exploited and used in these long term SHU units
were all but forgotten. We were the faceless, nameless, socially dead sub-humans
“worst-of-the-worst [per prisoncrat propaganda, and we set out to take back our
living human-being-ness, and force major
changes to the system, via our united-collective-peaceful actions.
Our intent being to educate and expose
our decades of torturous treatment in these
publicly funded dungeons, the nature of
which is the ongoing, multi-billion dollar
fraud on the tax payer [on the People] of
the world. And to date, we’ve had some
success, with more to accomplish.
In 2011, we said ENOUGH! and meant
it. We are not going to accept anything less
than the complete end to long term SHU
and AdSeg confinement, and we will demand the humane treatment and dignity
that all living beings are entitled to. In
the prison context, this requires an end to
the CDCr culture wherein the prisoncrats
have systematically dehumanized the prisoner class with impunity. By ‘prison class’
I’m referring to prisoners and our outside
loved ones. And we remain committed to
our cause, no matter how long it takes, or
what sacrifices are required. And, critically,
we remain united in our collective struggle
toward bringing the long overdue reforms
to this broken, fraudulent, publicly funded
state institution --- with the help of The
People …
The above is my perspective on our
struggle, and there’s a few quotes I try to
keep in mind as we move forward, from
Howard Zinn’s “the Zinn Reader:”
at p. 418, “The novelist Aldous Huxley
once said, ‘Liberties are not given; they are
taken. We are not given our liberties by the
Bill of Rights, certainly not by the government which either violates or ignores those
rights. We take our rights as thinking, action citizens.”
Volume 4, Number 5

At p. 407, “… It is never to be expected
in a revolution that everyone will change
their opinion at the same moment. There
never yet was any truth or principle so irresistibly obvious, that al People believed
it at once. Time and reason must cooperate
with each other to the final establishment
of any principle, and therefore, those who
may happen to be first convinced, have no
right to persecute others on whom conviction operates more slowly. The moral principle of revolutions is to instruct, not destroy.” [This quote is from Thomas Paine’s
“Rights of Man, Common Sense and other
Political Writings.” Paine was a leader in
the American Revolution]
From the Zinn Reader, at p. 632, “Action is preferably organized throughout action, but there should be room for whatever
kinds of action any individual or group
feels moved to undertake… We never
know exactly the depth or the shallowness
of the resistance to our actions -- until we
act. We never know exactly what affect we
will have. Our actions may lead to nothing except changing ourselves, and that is
something. They may have a tiny, cumulative effect, along with a thousand other actions. They may also explode … We should
not be preoccupied with predictions or with
measuring immediate success, but rather
should take the risk of action. We are not
totally free, but our strength will be maximized if we act as if we are free. We are not
passive observers, students, theorizers; our
very thoughts, our statements, our speeches, our essays, throw a weight into the balance which cannot be assessed until we
act…” Action based on conscience; action
based on one’s civic duty as a ‘free’ citizen
to hold those ‘in power’ accountable …
With all the above in mind, I hope people will consider the following points:
i) From the outset, we reject all intentions of those prisoncrats and collaborating stooges, operating with a fascist police
state agenda of oppression to dehumanize
our just cause, accusing us of being ‘worstof-the-worst’ making a power-play to regain control of the system, or other labels
used by the enemies of the working class
poor. Our struggle adheres to the principles
of the Constitution and the Internet Treaty
Law, and is inspired by all oppressed peoples’ demands for human rights, dignity,
respect, justice and equality; the demand to
be treated as living beings.
ii) Our outside supporters have all
of our gratitude; their tireless effort
supportive of our cause makes a giant

positive difference. They have recently
begun monthly supportive actions across
the state, publically rallying on the 23rd of
each month for the purpose of keeping
the subject of our endless torture in public
view and thereby exposed to the world. The
23rd of each month is symbolic of our 23 ½
hours per day in these tombs of the-livingdead, and it is hoped that such rallies will
spread across the nation.
iii) The People need to step up and hold
their elected officials accountable. Our
endless torture in these tombs is directly
related the power-elites’ war of oppression
and exploitation on the working class poor.
We are casualties of this war. The People
have the power. Power is worthless when it
is not utilized. The lawmakers in h tis state
need to be constantly exposed as supporters
and enablers of torture.
iv) I, personally, am no longer
participating in CDCr’s Step Down Program. At this point, I believe we’ve sufficient examples of such program being the
sham we said it would turn out to be, back
when we rejected CDCr’s STG-SDP pilot
program proposal, back when they first
rolled it out in March 2012. We rejected it
100% back then, and have never waivered
from this position… At this stage, I personally believe it’s a mistake for mass participation in the Step Down Program, especially for those doing life, and or long-terms,
because it’s a b.s. policy, and ongoing mass
participation is only helping provide prisoncrats with validation for such policy!
As we’ve said many times before, if
you’re not doing a ‘determinate’ SHU
term, you shouldn’t be in SHU, period!
Why should you have to eat shit (which
is what’s being shoveled out in Tehachapi
and Corcoran) to earn your way out of SHU
when you shouldn’t have been in SHU in
the first place!?! I’m not going to do it, and
I refer people to the open memo I put out
to Secretary Beard, et al, dated September
1, 2014, regarding the way in which their
policy, as structured, is open for failure.
CDCr never responded.
v) And, I encourage other people to put
their heads together and see what types
of further, peaceful, non-complaint, noncooperative, resistive means of achieving
our goals they can come up with! One thing
I’d like to see our outside supporters add to
their agenda is a program targeting CDCr’s
rank and file culture of dehumanization
of the prisoner class… We’ve already
demonstrated the power we have when
united and collectively fighting for the
7

benefit of all who are similarly situated,
and it is time for CDCr to see and respect
us as human beings!
END Long Term SHU! It will be a start
towards meaningful reform of the entire
system.
Onward In Struggle and Solidarity ●

UPDATE ON OUR
PROTRACTED
STRUGGLE
By Mutope Duguma, PB, short corridor,
Dec. 10, 2014
s we enter the new year 2015,
it would be four (4) years since
we collectively got together and
launched our Peaceful Protests to End
Long Term Solitary Confinement. We have
not been able to get any policy, outside of
STG 1 and 2, and SDP, which we have to
keep in mind, is again cdcr implementation of a policy that continues to violate
our civil and human rights (p1), that holds
men and women in these solitary confinement torture chambers – SCTC – indefinitely, where prisoners been held over
four (4) decades for no other reason than
a prison label, called prison gang validations, based on confidential information,
provided to prison officials from snitches,
rats, informers, turncoats, etc. And in a lot
of these cases, we would learn that ‘it’ was
the prison officials who manufactured this
information, in order to subject prisoners
to a life of hell. (P2) We have been able to
examine, evaluate and investigate the STG
and SDP policy and we unanimously reject it, because, simply put, it’s more of the
same, but it mostly empowers the previous
policies that we initially been peacefully
protesting. (p3) We all will continue to be
vulnerable to the validation policies, even
though they are for non-behavior issues,
and this means confidential information
will continue to hold you in these SCTC,
and place you in them. It don’t matter how
good or bad you are, this policy takes the
good with the bad. (p4)
The individual accountability Core Demand #1 was crucial for establishing a fair
and just policy. CDCr’s power stems from
the threats that they place over prisoners,
by labelling prisoners with groups and
holding them for the actions of that group;
and it is flawed, because, other than a gang
title, by which the group, or individuals,
are labeled as members or associates, sim-

A

8

ply based on the group’s alleged gang title,
nothing else allows for cdcr to blatantly
target racial groups and individuals. Prison
officials want these targeted individuals
off of General Population in order to subject them to SCTC through individual accountability. Satisfying Core Demand #1
would have put an end to this policy, where
predominantly white prison gang officials
target mostly New Afrikans and Mexicans
– Racism. (p5)
These validations are a matter of life and
death, because to subject and isolate prisoners for indefinite periods of time in SCTC,
takes a serious toll on our Health and mental stability, regardless if we appear to be a
reflection of strength. We see how humans
can naturally develop into strong men and
women. We also see how, if able to grow
older, they develop into fragile individuals, so as you age it’s a matter of life and
death. If you’re being provided the proper
nutrition and socialization (we know this is
not the case for prisoners, especially those
of us held in SCTC where the isolation deprives us of natural sunlight, etc.] SCTC
has an adverse effect on one’s life and it is
these grounds that should end STCT use.
The cdcr have a responsibility to protect
each and every prisoner, regardless how
they may feel about them.
(p6) CDCr officials have allowed the active/inactive 6 year review procedures to
stand, despite STG, 1 and 2 and the SDP
policy, so far, for two (2) years; Yes, and
counting. We remain on a dual policy. With
that said, when your 6 year active/inactive
review date come, you will go before an
IGI/OCS who will determine if you are active or inactive. If you are active, you are
to be retained in SCTC pending your caseby-case review with DRB. (p7). If you are
inactive, then you are referred to DRB and
seen relatively quick. But if you are re-validated as active, then you’re retained pending your DRB, case-by-case review. Now
the process is that IGI collects the alleged
information and prepares for the OCS, and
the OCS determines if this information is
sufficient enough for an active or inactive
re-validation. Then the DRB, that makes
the final decision, decides if you will be
detained or not, regardless of what OCS
recommends. (p8).
Active or inactive: after six (6) years of
waiting to go before the DRB, he or she
should be referred and seen, regardless if
it’s an active or inactive recommendation,
or a validation as active, and should see the
DRB immediately. To tell someone who

has been deemed active, he or she has to
wait for their DRB case-by-case review,
which the same cdcr official refers you
to, is a grave injustice [and I believe it’s a
14th Amendment violation under the Equal
Protection clause] because prisoners being
reviewed for active/ inactive re-validation
should be equally seen by the DRB who
makes the final decision based on OCS recommendation. (p9) This would not allow
cdcr gang officials to discriminate against
prisoners they want to retain in SCTC, because under the new policy, whether you
like it or not, as soon as you are in a SDP
step 1-4 you are on a 3 year process toward
getting the hell out of the SCTC.
Whether you are released of not, is irrelevant, but you cannot even begin to challenge the new contradictions (problems)
with the system if you are not afforded
the right to be processed into the new Step
Down Program policy. (p10) Plus, we cannot negate that these steps afford prisoners
privileges: most importantly a phone call
with family (many of us have not talked to
a family member in over 10 plus years, especially when family members, or prisoners, are very ill.)
My 6 year active/inactive review would
be on Dec. 16th 2014. This is my second
one. If I was to be deemed active, I don’t
get referred to the DRB, but instead would
be held on that active recommendation, or
re-validation, pending case-by-case review
by the DRB, which can take months or even
years, just to be told that the DRB confirms
or disagrees with the recommendation.
But regardless of the position the DRB
take, (by what committee, Mutope? Should
the words be: “when IGI reviews you,…”)
you still will be placed in a Step.
We, in our Core Demand #2, demanded
in part, the end to the active/inactive review, because it retains prisoners indefinitely in SCTC without any real due process or procedural due process. (p 11) The
debriefing policy is still in effect and its
sole purpose is to have prisoners snitch on
one another for a release from the SCTC
that they are held on indefinitely. We understood that the State power can create
situations for or in our lives that render us
vulnerable to the authority/ power that they
been entrusted with by the People, and, it
is the abuse of this power/ authority that
has allowed cdcr to structure up a system
of torture for thousands of Human Beings
held in these SCTC, unjustly. We, in part of
our Core Demand #2, have demanded an
end to this debriefing policy that tortures
Rock!

men and women for information on other
men and women by using state sanctioned
powers to carry out their attacks.
We continue to be held indefinitely in
long term solitary confinement, where the
new policies do not negate (change?) this
fact where humans who have been in solitary confinement over 20 to 30 years, are
now being placed in Step 1, under the new
STG 1 & 2 – SDP. This speaks to the inhumanity of the cdcr officials who are heartless to the fact that these prisoners have
endured enough suffering. The placing of
anyone on frivolous confidential information into Step 1, is unjust and cruel and unusual. So, if you been in SCTC for 30 years
and you are placed in Step 1, that’s three
more years added to that 30 years, which is
a continuation of long term SCTC.
I, personally, have witness individuals
who we all know will easily transition into
General Population, but are placed in Step
1 thru 4, due to political material which is
protected by the First Amendment of the
US Constitution, that the cdcr supersedes,
and confidential information. The SDP is
another scheme to hold countless individuals in long term SCTC.
We, in our Core Demand #3, demanded
an end to long term solitary confinement.
We see that cdcr has basically just re-established for us, three (3) more years in SCTC,
which is torture, and long term solitary
confinement. (p12)
National and international opinion clearly deems long term solitary confinement
as torture, but these laws are not respected
by cdcr. Yet, cdcr reduces these laws to
opinions. (p13) We continue to see prisoners die, due to medical neglect, inadequate
medical treatment. We all hear the horror
stories, and have our own that have routinely been allowed to occur, where countless men and women have died in agonizing pain, due to not being diagnosed, or not
treated for medical conditions that eventually manifest into a deadly disease, in
which the prisoners suffer the rest of their
stay in SCTC. In part, we have demanded
in our Core Demand #4 that an end to inadequate medical treatment cease. (p14)
We continue to be fed non-nutritional
foods and issued regularly disproportionate
servings, to that prisoners held in long term
solitary confinement go hungry and become unhealthy, since it is a concrete fact
that nutritional foods maintain one’s good
health. CDCr continues to defy this documented fact under the Dietary Guidelines
for Amerikans, 2010, source: “US DepartVolume 4, Number 5

ment of Agriculture; US Department of
Health and Human Services.” (p15) The
case can be made that the food being fed
to prisoners routinely is not only non-nutritional, but unhealthy for consumption,
especially pancakes, waffles, with sugar
free syrup and peanut with sugar free jelly;
turkey, beef, chicken, etc. is all by product
meats, meaning that there is a small percentage of the original meats present. (p16)
So, we are eating mostly soy and pink
slime, which is why you don’t get no meat
texture, but instead a flimsy piece of meat.
That soy is questionable as to being safe,
let alone healthy for consumption. And
let’s keep in mind, this is the worst form of
processed meat you can eat. (p17)
The milk is 60% water; it truly don’t
have no nutritional value. The two ridiculous small servings of vegetables we get a
day, is insufficient to maintain our health.
And, those on Halal here at PBSP are deprived of so much of their food, simply
because they have opted to be on a diet
that’s consistent with one’s religion, or
principles, in respects to how one’s meat is
prepared, are retaliated against and denied
side dishes with these meals on numerous
occasions, where one’s dinner can be under 400 calories. I can go on and on about
the inadequate foods prisoners are forced
to eat or starve, that provide no nutritional
benefits. In part, our Core Demand #4, demanded an adequate, balanced, nutritional
diet be provided, and an end to the disproportionate servings. (p18)
We are still held inside SCTC, where
no meaningful educational programs and
privileges have been implemented, in order
to challenge (or ‘encourage?) the mental
stability and physical development of the
prisoners held in these SCTC. When we
talk about educational programs, we are
talking about cdcr changing their routine
practice of just warehousing prisoners in
these SCTC, but instead, give them access
to modern world technologies that can be
provided at prisoner’s expense or state expense. We definitely need to bring in limited computers that can provide national
and international geographies and cultures
to which we can study. The outdated educational programs that cdcr at PBSP provides
serves no educational purpose whatsoever.
The world is getting smaller and smaller
and prisoners are like dinosaurs in their
thinking, especially those of us who have
been 25 years or longer and it’s worser
for those of us held in these SCTC. (p19)
We need to be exposed to the many new

social and cultural developments that has
occurred over those years. A lot of us, out
of being uniformed, have no clue as to
how far the world has advanced, and if we
continue to be isolated [and this is in reference to all prisoners in respects to outdated
educational programs that provide no educational resources to us] is a tragedy, especially when cdcr sell to the public ‘rehabilitation of prisoners.’ (p20)
True rehabilitation would be in the transformation of all prisons being turned into
colleges and universities, but you have
to be willing to tap into the thousands of
mentalities behind these prison walls, because who knows if given the opportunity,
you can have the world best: scientist, doctors, lawyers, philosophers, judges, cooks,
teachers, computer geeks, biologists, dentists, architects, artists, etc.
But we need real courage and commitment to real education for our prisoners to
not use this dead energy that is being wasted away in these man-made tombstones,
doing nothing for no one. I’ll prefer to be
studying for a doctorate degree than to be
just sitting here wasting away like this and
once that is achieved, we should be afforded to be given the opportunity to serve the
national and international interests of the
world, in respects to humans. (p21)
But, if cdcr only intends to warehouse
prisoners ‘til they are dead, then we prisoners have to demand an end to the senseless
killing of prisoners by proxy. Because humans are a resource and the state can invest
in them positively or negatively, and the
current investment in prisoners is negative,
where it relegates the human being to nothing. (p22)
Privileges is simply allowing prisoners
access to activities that enrich their lives.
This can only be a benefit to everyone, as
family visits and contact visits are privileges, and an hour visit out of 24 hours a day
(or should this be: “for 2 days a month?”),
where you only get to visit two (2) days,
Saturday and Sunday, and in some prisons,
just one day for an hour. PBSP afforded 1
½ hour and after our Peaceful Protests, now
3 hours. But trying to get to PBSP is like
going to another state, so even that visit is
inappropriate for the distance. (We should
be allowed?) should be five or six hours.
Privileges should always be connected to
one’s social development. (p23) The more
exposed the prisoner is to positive programs, the more naturally conditioned they
would be in practice, and that’s in line with
his or her humanity.
9

We have, for the last fifty (50) years,
in California, been conditioned around
violence and it has been the practice expressed throughout our stay. Thanks to our
Agreement to End Hostilities, a lot of this
violence has been deterred, to some extent.
But, what will keep this violence at bay?
Because it definitely won’t sustain itself if
prisoners’ energy is not being challenged
in the educational programs and privileges
that would hold their attention and produce
the development that will enrich their lives.
Our Core Demand #5 demanded that
in order to deal with the idle time and the
physical and mental development and social development of each and every prisoners. None of our Core Demands have been
met! We are at a stage in our Protracted
Struggle where we have to ask ourselves
the tough questions: Where do we go from
here? The fact that cdcr has afforded some
of us access to General Population who
should have never been held in these SCTC
in the first place on confidential information for far too many years. (p25) We know
that cdcr (will) probably render our class
action lawsuit mute, based on placing everyone in the SDP, especially those of us
who been in here 10 years or more in PBSP
SHU, which is the only requirement in re-

spects to the lawsuit.
So, based on the Legislators and eventually the lawsuit being rendered mute, it
will come back to us prisoners. So we have
to start strategizing around what we have
to do in respect to our Peaceful Protests in
order to end the continued abuse of authority. (p26) CDCr has turned up its attacks,
making it worse for each and every prisoner and their family.
New Passed and Proposed Regulations:
1. (PASSED) Program failure: an attack on
property general policy, Article 9. Personal Property, CCR Title 15, Sections
3190 (k) (3); 3191 ( c)
2. (Proposed) Obscenity materials: an attack on free speech; censorship.
3. (Proposed) Canine searches: attack on
families
Each of these passed or proposed regulations are not about nothing, other than
prison officials abusing their position of
power in order to retaliate against all of
us who participated in the three Hunger
Strikes, and against the prisoners, activists
and the families. The fact that cdcr can use
the power that has been entrusted to them
by the People, to attack the People for their
Peaceful Protests speaks volumes to how
cdcr officials have no respect for the of-

fices they hold. (p27) We prisoners need
to prepare for a massive Peaceful Protest
and work stoppage, if prison officials don’t
change (1) The culture to which prisoners and their families are subjected to: so
much mental and physical torment; (2) End
Long Term Solitary Confinement, as they
promised; (3) Implement our Five Core
Demands. If not, we have to think about
our immediate future and long term future
behind these walls. Too many humans are
suffering that don’t need to be suffering.
We also have to begin to educate prisoners to how to file state writs and civil
complaints at the state and federal courts,
in the interest of prisoners, ending the routine abuses that’s been systematic throughout the state. The work stoppage, if necessary, should last anywhere from a month to
years.
Our support committees need to release
just the health complications of the many
prisoners who suffered during our last
hunger strike with the above piece, when
we was in New Folsom. If you all decide
to, add just this. Many prisoners suffered
immeasurable consequences in the name
of our Peaceful Hunger Strikes, the most
recent, July 8, 2013 to September 5, 2013.
One Love, One Struggle. ●

Ed Mead, Publisher
Rock Newsletter
P.O. Box 47439
Seattle, WA 98146

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