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Marking a significant victory in the struggle to end solitary confinement in the United States, a landmark legal settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday effectively ends the practice of indeterminate, long-term isolation of inmates in the state of California.
The settlement comes in Ashker v. Governor of California, a federal class action lawsuit brought on behalf of prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at California's Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. Many were sent into isolation without any violent conduct or serious rule infractions, purely based on gang affiliation, and all without any meaningful process for transfer out of isolation and back to the general prison population.
"This settlement represents a monumental victory for prisoners and an important step toward our goal of ending solitary confinement in California, and across the country," those plaintiffs said in a statement following the settlement. "California's agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU confinement based on gang affiliation demonstrates the power of unity and collective action."
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which argued on behalf of the plaintiffs, said the settlement would "fundamentally alter... all aspects of this cruel and unconstitutional regime."
The New York Timesnoted that "the settlement is expected to sharply reduce the number of inmates held in the state's isolation units, where inmates are often kept alone for more than 22 hours a day inside cells that sometimes have no windows, and cap the length of time prisoners can spend there."
Beyond that, the Times continued, the lawsuit's outcome "marks a major shift in corrections practices in the state, one that prison reform advocates hope can serve as a model for other states."
According to CCR, key reforms brought about by the settlement include:
The San Jose Mercury Newsreported that families of the inmates and their lawyers "point to hunger strikes that began in 2012 as the catalyst for the agreement. In some instances inmates throughout the state prison system went two months without food to protest conditions in Pelican Bay's security housing unit."
Indeed, advocates were quick to praise and credit the inmates' perseverance.
"The struggle to end California's extreme use of solitary confinement has always been led by people in prison and their families, organizing through the prison walls," CCR attorneys Alexis Agathocleous and Rachel Meeropol wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
"Incarcerated activists first brought the case that became Ashker and organized the hunger strikes that made the barbaric reality of solitary a political and policy issue," they continued. "Throughout the lawsuit, our plaintiffs were involved at every step, and the settlement gives them an unprecedented role in monitoring compliance with its terms. Their organizing efforts--in the face of unimaginable obstacles--have been extraordinary."
And Dolores Canales of California Families Against Solitary Confinement, a mother of a prisoner in Pelican Bay, said: "From the historic prisoner-led hunger strikes of 2011 and 2013, to the work of families, loved ones, and advocates, this settlement is a direct result of our grassroots organizing, both inside and outside prison walls. This legal victory is huge, but is not the end of our fight--it will only make the struggle against solitary and imprisonment everywhere stronger."
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Marking a significant victory in the struggle to end solitary confinement in the United States, a landmark legal settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday effectively ends the practice of indeterminate, long-term isolation of inmates in the state of California.
The settlement comes in Ashker v. Governor of California, a federal class action lawsuit brought on behalf of prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at California's Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. Many were sent into isolation without any violent conduct or serious rule infractions, purely based on gang affiliation, and all without any meaningful process for transfer out of isolation and back to the general prison population.
"This settlement represents a monumental victory for prisoners and an important step toward our goal of ending solitary confinement in California, and across the country," those plaintiffs said in a statement following the settlement. "California's agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU confinement based on gang affiliation demonstrates the power of unity and collective action."
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which argued on behalf of the plaintiffs, said the settlement would "fundamentally alter... all aspects of this cruel and unconstitutional regime."
The New York Timesnoted that "the settlement is expected to sharply reduce the number of inmates held in the state's isolation units, where inmates are often kept alone for more than 22 hours a day inside cells that sometimes have no windows, and cap the length of time prisoners can spend there."
Beyond that, the Times continued, the lawsuit's outcome "marks a major shift in corrections practices in the state, one that prison reform advocates hope can serve as a model for other states."
According to CCR, key reforms brought about by the settlement include:
The San Jose Mercury Newsreported that families of the inmates and their lawyers "point to hunger strikes that began in 2012 as the catalyst for the agreement. In some instances inmates throughout the state prison system went two months without food to protest conditions in Pelican Bay's security housing unit."
Indeed, advocates were quick to praise and credit the inmates' perseverance.
"The struggle to end California's extreme use of solitary confinement has always been led by people in prison and their families, organizing through the prison walls," CCR attorneys Alexis Agathocleous and Rachel Meeropol wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
"Incarcerated activists first brought the case that became Ashker and organized the hunger strikes that made the barbaric reality of solitary a political and policy issue," they continued. "Throughout the lawsuit, our plaintiffs were involved at every step, and the settlement gives them an unprecedented role in monitoring compliance with its terms. Their organizing efforts--in the face of unimaginable obstacles--have been extraordinary."
And Dolores Canales of California Families Against Solitary Confinement, a mother of a prisoner in Pelican Bay, said: "From the historic prisoner-led hunger strikes of 2011 and 2013, to the work of families, loved ones, and advocates, this settlement is a direct result of our grassroots organizing, both inside and outside prison walls. This legal victory is huge, but is not the end of our fight--it will only make the struggle against solitary and imprisonment everywhere stronger."
Marking a significant victory in the struggle to end solitary confinement in the United States, a landmark legal settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday effectively ends the practice of indeterminate, long-term isolation of inmates in the state of California.
The settlement comes in Ashker v. Governor of California, a federal class action lawsuit brought on behalf of prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at California's Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent a decade or more in solitary confinement. Many were sent into isolation without any violent conduct or serious rule infractions, purely based on gang affiliation, and all without any meaningful process for transfer out of isolation and back to the general prison population.
"This settlement represents a monumental victory for prisoners and an important step toward our goal of ending solitary confinement in California, and across the country," those plaintiffs said in a statement following the settlement. "California's agreement to abandon indeterminate SHU confinement based on gang affiliation demonstrates the power of unity and collective action."
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which argued on behalf of the plaintiffs, said the settlement would "fundamentally alter... all aspects of this cruel and unconstitutional regime."
The New York Timesnoted that "the settlement is expected to sharply reduce the number of inmates held in the state's isolation units, where inmates are often kept alone for more than 22 hours a day inside cells that sometimes have no windows, and cap the length of time prisoners can spend there."
Beyond that, the Times continued, the lawsuit's outcome "marks a major shift in corrections practices in the state, one that prison reform advocates hope can serve as a model for other states."
According to CCR, key reforms brought about by the settlement include:
The San Jose Mercury Newsreported that families of the inmates and their lawyers "point to hunger strikes that began in 2012 as the catalyst for the agreement. In some instances inmates throughout the state prison system went two months without food to protest conditions in Pelican Bay's security housing unit."
Indeed, advocates were quick to praise and credit the inmates' perseverance.
"The struggle to end California's extreme use of solitary confinement has always been led by people in prison and their families, organizing through the prison walls," CCR attorneys Alexis Agathocleous and Rachel Meeropol wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
"Incarcerated activists first brought the case that became Ashker and organized the hunger strikes that made the barbaric reality of solitary a political and policy issue," they continued. "Throughout the lawsuit, our plaintiffs were involved at every step, and the settlement gives them an unprecedented role in monitoring compliance with its terms. Their organizing efforts--in the face of unimaginable obstacles--have been extraordinary."
And Dolores Canales of California Families Against Solitary Confinement, a mother of a prisoner in Pelican Bay, said: "From the historic prisoner-led hunger strikes of 2011 and 2013, to the work of families, loved ones, and advocates, this settlement is a direct result of our grassroots organizing, both inside and outside prison walls. This legal victory is huge, but is not the end of our fight--it will only make the struggle against solitary and imprisonment everywhere stronger."