Amidst great political and bureaucratic clapping the California Department of Corrections (CDC) opened the “state of the art” Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU) in 1989. Pelican Bay was designed for solitary confinement. Hundreds spent years in solitary confinement some as long as thirty years despite the United Nation’s maximum set at 15 days!
No windows, solid concrete and almost no human interaction leading to loneliness and intense mental battles to remain sane. After watching these inhumane quarters and listening to former Pelican Bay inmates I recalled being in Romania in the Iron Curtain days watching a squalid East German circus in some small rural centre. Small cages and epitome of animal cruelty perhaps equivalent to conditions at Pelican Bay.
We listen to former inmates and their families, investigative journalists, CDC bureaucrats and activists campaigning for extensive reform of SHUs in California.
At the time California prisons were segregated by race for “safety reasons” into whites, Hispanics and blacks. The most violent and “validated gang members” were the recipients of SHU’s cruel hospitality. A validated gang member was based on labelling. So if you had a certain tattoo, were reading certain books, received letters supposedly indicative of gang affiliation, had certain affiliations or even drew something that asserted your cultural identity you were shipped off to an SHU in California. Very little importance in validated gang membership process was based on actual behaviours of the inmates.
Inspired by the hunger strike death of IRA prison inmate Bobby Sands (and nine others) at Belfast’s Maze Prison on 5May1981 inmates at Pelican Bay initiated a hunger strike on 1July2011 and again in 2013. Always at the forefront of inmate’s demands were;
- The right for meaningful human contact
- End of group punishment
- Provision of adequate food
- Ending debriefing policy i.e. using inmates to rat on other inmates
- Ending long term solitary confinement
Despite CDC promises, California state legislature hearings and increased media coverage it wasn’t until the hunger strike death of an inmate and a growing class action lawsuit on behalf of Pelican Bay inmates that the California State legislature enacted legislation reforming the SHU system in effect liberating nearly 4,000 inmates from segregation. Yet as of today there are over 120,000 inmates in the United States in solitary confinement.
A fascinating study of the debilitating effects of solitary confinement in the prison system and the political football game played by California politicians and CDC bureaucrats. And yes before you continue to bash lawyers it was the class action on behalf of Pelican Bay inmates that may have been the ultimate driver towards severely limiting the ravages of solitary confinement. Regrettably there is no discussion or itemization in the film of exactly what constitutes solitary confinement.
World Premiere screenings at HOT DOCS 28/29April2024.
RKS 2024 Film Rating 83/100.
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