FIVE DAY VIGIL TO EXPOSE PRISON TORTURE

We are looking for housing for the brothers when they come out of prison. Please offer up your homes so that you can learn first-hand what really is going on. It would be better for all if a family unit provided support.
Please understand that some of the brothers might be
unappreciative, just accept that for what they have gone through.

Please email me if you interested in participating in the 5 day vigil to expose the prison torture known as the SHU (see other post in local news).

we need people to stand watch, to pass out fliers and to be in the SHU for specific hours as a form of solidarity with the prisoners locked down in their torture chambers.

The action begins tomorrow - Halloween night at midnight at Powell and Market and continues non stop til Tuesday at midnight.
any hours will be appreciated, we just have to schedule it and make sure we have several people there all hours of the day and night.

uhurureparations [at] yahoo.com or allpeepsco [at] yahoo.com

Good article, but error worth correcting at:
"Incumbent Governor Gray Davis has received millions from the prisoner’s union "
It is the Prison Guards, not the prisoners, who contributed millions to Gray Davis' campaign. Since guards, like all police, are the armed thugs of the capitalist state, their organizations are not legitimate labor unions but rather fascist thug private clubs.
Gray Davis is a typical Democrat, pretending to be to the left of the Republican (pro-choice on abortion is sufficient these days) to get elected, and then carrying out the same capitalist agenda as the Republicans because the Democrat and Republican parties are twin parties of capitalism. Gray Davis did not do much playing to the left when he ran against Lungren and at that time, proudly proclaimed he was for the death penalty.

We are seeing this now with the peace movement. Democrats are now trying to jump on the peace bandwagon for votes, but they support the same policies as the Republicans, including supporting Israel, supporting the war machine with their votes for its budget, and the like.

Please stop voting for all Democrats and all Republicans at all levels of government. The propositions are still worth your consideration.

These concentration camps called prisons will be liberated when we get a labor movement strong enough to call a political general strike to stop war, which may be coming. The quarter million people turnout combined in several US cities on October 26 for peace is a sign of a rapidly growing peace movement, which is fueled by the declining economy as the government just spends the money on war abroad and concentration camps at home.

There are actually 5 SHU prisons in California:

Pelican Bay
Valley State
Corcoran
Tehapchapi
and
Corcoran SATF

There are actually 5 SHU prisons in California:

Pelican Bay
Valley State
Corcoran
Tehachapi
and
Corcoran SATF

dear all, everythings in place. we are setting up our shu program and quetzaoceloacuia is going in and 12 midnight.

here is a firsthand account of the torture that goes on in the SHU program:

http://www.humanrights.de/u/usa/luis/mc.html

--->six by nine foot cell and having only two hours of sunlight every two weeks

Sounds nice! You should have been in the Hanoi Hilton.

I have a couple of rooms for the brothers. Ah, just what I need, some x-cons to beat up and kill me and my wife, rape my daughter, steal my car and burn down my house. I know, all they guys are in there for not paying their parking tickets. Give me a break!

This in response to "Abu jamel Schmeell";. Because of ignorant people like you is why we have so many prisons. It's amazing how people like you could think like that, and NO I had never been in prison, but I care, I care for people, well I don't care for people like you. See your problem in that you are afraid of who you are. You never know, maybe one of your kids, you, your wife ends up in there too, and then you'll think from a different point of view. don't assume that everyone is like you.

Tell me how do you sleep at night Mr. with all those X-cons out here, I sleep very warm next to one. What do you think about that? Are you afraid?

U R doin' A great Job!

So you care about people, huh? How about the people the convicts harmed/murdered? The convicts that are in these places are the badest of the bad, total sociopaths. The convicts are sent there from other prisons because of their total antisocial behavior. These folks deserve what they get.

Hunger strike - I hope they starve to death - burp!

imagine if bush and ashcroft got what they deserved?

again please read this firsthand account of the shu program:

http://www.humanrights.de/u/usa/luis/mc.html

see you all at midnight!

matthew

If there's someone I falling over myself believing it's a prisoner.

It scares me when I read the naive diatribe about how all these prisoners are such "human beings". WAKE UP! Of all the thousands of prisoners in our prisons, and yes we have thousands under lock and key, these are the animals that primarily prey on other inmates and staff. Try reasoning with a vicious dog like you talk with your lovable Fluffy and see what it gets you. These guys are sociopathic individuals who will convince anyone about their victimization, who doesn't sit back and think it through. The worst bullies in grade school are SHU residents.

"See your problem in that you are afraid of who you are. You never know, maybe one of your kids, you, your wife ends up in there too, and then you'll think from a different point of view."

The real situation is that I know who I am and I know the law that exists. I am a person that associates breaking the law with going to prison, and furthermore I weigh the costs of crime (probably going to prison) with the benefits of crime (largely petty). Most felons have serious psychological problems (as in the case of the Manson, Dahmer types) and severe intelligence handicaps (usually the ones convicted of armed robbery, drugs, assault). The real point is that my family and I will never find ourselves in jail because we understand the consequences of crime and therefore choose not to risk getting "nailed" in prison.

If you notice (and they have done plenty of studies), most inmates score an IQ of about one-half standard deviation below the standard US mean. What does this mean? Just a hunch: They either ignore the possible consequences of their shenanigans or they are too stupid to recognize them. What do you do with someone like this?

Don't ask me. Most people who go to jail are the ones who aren't smart enough to get caught. Don't get me wrong, from a moral point of view, of course, everyone who commits a crime should be punished. But if you are going to commit a crime, and your main objective is not to get caught, don't you think there should be a necessary plan involved? Most people who end up in jail commit crimes in a way that so blatlantly stupid, that they are just asking for jail time. The examples are endless.

"Most people who go to jail are the ones who aren't smart enough to get caught."

Rephrase: Most people who go to jail are the ones who lack the intelligence (or "know-how") to avoid getting caught.

So my curiosity is up - just what did Avina do to end up in a 6x9 ft cell for 22 hours a day. As stated before I doubt he's in there for unpaid parking tickets. Any response out there in cyber land as to why he is in the pokey? ..... anyone?.....anyone?....Bhuler?......anyone?

he was involved in a hunger strike inside new folsom. the prison broke the hunger strikes back naming "ringleaders" -- namely jose luis and steve castillos and sending them to the corcoran shu and the pelican bay shu respectively. its been 3 years now.

but i'm sure none of this matters to the type of person who thinks torturing someone for years on end is ok under some circumstances.

Hey!

Maybe I could fill you in on some of the details, since these guys really haven't looked into the "other side" of the story. I found 10 links when I typed in the name "José Luis Aviña" into Google.com. Popular guy, eh?

Evidently, Jose Luis Avina was (according to these radical Aztecs [wait, I thought the Aztecs wore headdresses and carried around funny looking hatchets?]) in Haight Ashbury, his own Aztec territory, minding his own business when he exposed an "evil white, rich" drug dealer who was short changing his customers. This, of course, incited anger in both the drug dealer and the person that delivers his drugs. Jose Luis Avina was attacked from behind by the delivery boy (no, this is not Domino's we are talking about), and Avina took it in his own "Aztec divine right" to "protect" himself from the man by shooting him dead.

I, personally, have some questions for these brave indian warriors that defend the "poor, innocent" Avina. First, what the hell was Avina doing in Haight Ashbury, associating with a drug dealer to begin with? It is hard for me (and should be for most of you) to imagine Avina in H-A solely to rid the area of drug activity. Most obviously, he was involved with this drug dealer on a personal level. More than anything, I think what did happen was that Avina was the one who was short changed. And this probably angered him.

I don't know about you guys, but ridding the world of short-changing drug dealers is not exactly the noble cause these Aztecs would like you to believe. If anything the degeneration on both sides (the buyer and the seller) should shame the Aztecs, for being involved in criminal activity. Regardless of Avina's own "Aztec divine right" to protect the land against short-changing drug dealers, if he had one ounce of intelligence in his brain, he would: (a) not have been involved with the drug dealers to begin with, (b) simply accepted the fact that he had gotten short changed and left the scene for fear of his own life, (c) understood the consequences of protecting his "Aztec" land. Somehow, its just too hard for these Aztecs to think about their own actions.

Furthermore, I'd like to know where the hell this Aztec noble (Avina) got his gun? Carrying around an unregistered, concealed handgun (or was it a cuerno de chivo?) is also a major crime. Obviously, Avina was not carrying around a gun to protect himself, but most likely to kill someone when the event came. I don't know about you, but most people in their twenties who carry concealed weapons, that I am aware of, are gang members. Call it what you want, Aztec Group, Hijos de los Indios, La Mejor Raza (remind you of something, knock knock Kriegmaschine!!), its a gang associated with criminal activity, which is not confined to robberies and such, but also DRUG ACTIVITY).

Well, evidently, Jose Luis Avina and a couple of Aztec buddies in the slammer decided to organize a hunger strike in jail for 16 days, because the prison standards weren't up to their par. I guess they realized what a shi*-hole jail is and decided they deserved better. When they realized that they would be bed buddies with Tyrone the child molester, and Billy the rapist, maybe they would have taken back their previous actions.

My guess is that they put them in solitary confinement either for first-degree murder (which was well deserved considering the circumstances) or possibly misconduct in the jail. According the Aztec camp, they had been locked up in their cell for long periods of time and suffered from arthiritis and lack of shower time.

Good ol' Gray Davis came to save the day and put these guys in different prisons around the country, which would seem to fix the problem. But somehow these Aztecs have envisioned their warrior prince now in jail being tortured (Mao-style) and being murdered a la Stalin, which is entirely unfounded (I'd like to see some evidence of communist state-style beatings in California prisons).

Hope this helps.

It doesn't matter if an inmate is innocent or guilty, there is no excuse for torture, whether that be beatings, sensory deprivation (SHU), or rape, to which you so glibly allude.

Don't do the Crime
If you can't do the Time

There is a huge difference between solitary confinement and "beatings, sensory deprivation (SHU), or rape". First, the idea of them being in solitary confinement and being raped by fellow inmates is impossible (because the environment is in solitude (alone)). Second, rape is a system wide prison problem, atleast from what I know (not specific to these Aztecs).

Do I think there is a problem with the system? I'm not too sure how you could handle the situation, short of creating a cell and a shower for each and every inmate, which would be ridiculously expensive. We might as well provide them with a swimming pool and continental breakfast. I'd rather see it as a mild consequence of bringing the scum of the earth all under one roof. I know for a fact that prisoners are sent to confinement under acts of misconduct (rape probably being one of them). As far as violent murders in jail, I imagine you have to really piss someone off in order to get beaten to death. This guy has a first-degree murder under his belt. If he is smart (which we already have established that he isn't), he will learn from Dahmer's past prison experience, and hopefully keep his mouth shut and his eyes down.

In the pen, the Negros have a saying, which is this:

"You wasn't crying when you did what you did to get up in this motherfucker."

English translation:

"you're a criminal, and you knew (when you committed that crime) what awaited you if you got caught, so there's little sense in complaining now."

Of course, this doesn't account for stupidity. Many fellahs go to prison for idiocy, pure and simple. For them (they that fail to carefully read the laws they break) I have even less sympathy. And let me just tell you this: if a man (or woman) is in AdSeg, they almost invariably did something that calls for such extreme punishment. In very rare cases is this not so.

"Activists" are amusing folks (who surely have hearts of gold, which is commendable, but who wouldn't want to spend even five minutes in the same room as any "real" convict). Aside from "gladiator games" and those tortures and assassinations that are assisted - in whole or part - by prison administration (typically dirty cops), prison policy is, in general, fair and straight ahead. And even in those extraordinary cases, 50% of the time, the hacks have a good reason (such as the target endangering the lives of many other inmates and cops by threatening to rat off or actually ratting off cops and convicts on this or that conspiracy or wrongdoing).

But I assure you: they that spend any significant time in AdSeg (except for those who use AdSeg as a quasi-protective custody environment) well belong there. "Activists" should investigate what codified acts call for AdSeg. Killing a man is one (where, for whatever reason, prison officials cannot outright prove it happened or provide district attorneys with sufficient evidence to convict the actor in a state court; in those cases, the victim's life is "worth" from 180 days to five years, max [in California, at least]. Now you tell me: for outright, cold-blooded murder, is this - or is it not - a compassionate penalty?)

Misplaced compassion and concern is admirable, perhaps, but misguided. Convicts goof on "activists" and get a great kick out of their activities. Example exchange:

Convict 1: "So, they're gonna rally for you, holmes? What's REALLY going on?"

Convict 2: "Yeah, those crazy motherfuckers. Ain't that a bitch? But I ain't complaining. I might get some action out of this, holmes. Crazy fools. But they're right, eh? I'm a victim of institutional evil. Wahhhh, wahhhh, wahhh. Hahahaha."

Convict 1: "That's fucked up, homeboy. But take it if you can get it. But what about your partners? Can't I get a rally? Or I ain't got nuthin' coming? Come on, man...I'm oppressed too. Throw in a good word for me. Or what? Homey don't ya know me? You ain't got no love for me, I guess."

Convict 2: "You gotta spread your hustle. This is my car, foolio."

Bottom line: when men choose to break the law, they've got what's coming to them. Prison is a vicious society, and if you're not prepared to live inside that universe, don't pull that trigger (or whatever you're planning to do). True, some folks do get railroaded (in other words, some innocent men do lay in prison, and this, I won't dispute), but on the whole, our criminal process presents so many hurdles (in favor of criminals and against the prosecution) that to arrive at prison, most men have performed the requisite deeds. Barring confessions, it's very difficult to convict someone of a major crime. And the feds often parade their 90-96.7% conviction rate, but in cases where no confession (or collaborative testimony of a co-conspirator) arises, their conviction rate plummets (maybe one in six, if that).

In either case, most convicts (not inmates, for a distinction exists there) are well-prepared to handle whatever negative experiences they encounter in the pen. And in most cases, those men belong there. On the mean, I'd say that each "serious" criminal spends (on average) merely 10 days behind bars for every crime they committed (but for which the authorities couldn't muster adequate evidence). That is to say, our justice system often makes fellahs ride "silent" beefs on wrongs that no one will ever prove. Thus, if a man's serving time for a single attempted murder charge, you can be reasonably sure that in his lifetime, he's committed that same crime dozens of times and never got caught. If "activists" should ever be unlucky enough to visit "The House of Many Doors," (which I sincerely hope never befalls them), they would quickly realize this. I'd estimate that 33% of prison discussions focus on such crimes (that are now and will forever remain unsolved).

Short title: idealism is great, but bears little relationship to the truth.

The SHU is solitary confinement. It is also sensory deprivation.

Oh, I know precisely what SHU is. I didn't suggest that SHU was humane; I merely related that most fellahs who end up there undertook some prescribed action to get there.

Does that mean that every man in SHU belongs there? No. If I were to return to prison (an unlikely contingency, but possible), I'd likely go straight from R&R to SHU, purely for my associations (and yes, it's true that convicts have no due process rights for classification purposes, and that's a motherfucker, but it is what it is; the CDC has inordinate power to do what it likes). The CDC has at its disposal a whole slew of justifications for SHU-ing fellahs (and even, on ocassion, they do it to drop-outs, rather than PC-ing them, thus effectively sealing their fates).

No. I never indicated that it was humane. It merely is what it is, and even in the face of federal rulings, CDC will likely never drastically alter its practices (even if, to quiet and placate civil rights activists, it alters it paper-entrenched policies).

Fight the Criminal Injustice System
End California SHU brutality

The United $tates is world's leading prison-state per capita. The U.$ imprisons more Black people than did apartheid South Africa of the era before Mandela was president. The majority of prisoners are non-violent offenders and the U.S. Government now holds about a half million more prisoners than China; even though China is four times our population. In this so-called "free country" freedom is imprisonment.

Like the rest of the country, people from oppressed nations are imprisoned in California prisons at a disproportionate rate. In 1998 the CDC reported that 34% of the population in all CDC institutions was Latino, and 31% was Black. The population of the Security Housing Units (SHUs) is even more disproportionate. 82% of those in SHUs were non-white, and 52% of those in SHUs were Latino. This compares to a California population that was 32% Latino, and 7% Black in 1998.

The SHUs: Central to CDC repression

The five California SHU's - Pelican Bay State Prison SHU, Valley State Prison for Women SHU, California State Prison at Corcoran SHU, California Correctional Institution at Tehapchapi SHU and Corcoran SATF - are the lynchpin for the CDC's prison system. They are the most brutal prisons in the system and principally target those prisoners who show the most resistance. They are designed to break inmates' spirit. The SHU is a threat which hangs over the head of all CA prisoners.

At Pelican Bay prisoners are kept in windowless cells for a minimum of 22 1/2 hours a day. There is no education, no job training, no work, no religious services, or hobby materials. Prisoners are subject to strip searches upon departure from and return to their cell when they have not come in contact with any other individual.

Conditions at Pelican Bay were found unconstitutional in 1995 by a federal court, which ruled that prisoners were subjected to gratuitous and racist beatings and that medical facilities were inadequate. Prisoners report that little has changed since this ruling. Corcoran prison is infamous for its daily "gladiator fights," staged between 1988 and 1996. Guards would manipulate exercise schedules so that known enemies would be in the handball-court-sized recreation area at the same time. Fights were basically certain, and guards bet on the outcome. After a fight had gone on for a while, guards would break it up by firing wooden bullets at the prisoners. Hundreds of prisoners were injured in these fights - including seven murdered by guards. These are only a few of the tortures and terrors implemented by the CDC.

Transfer to and from a SHU depends on the whims of a classification committee. Prisoners are not allowed legal counsel before this kangaroo court. The CDC claims that the SHUs house "the worst of the worst," who are kept in lockdown because they pose a danger to other prisoners. However - as is the case in other control units throughout the u.$. - many of the prisoners in California's SHUs are there because they are jailhouse lawyers, or have filed too many grievances.

The CDC also uses the policy of "snitch, parole, or die" to justify further repression and turn prisoners against each other. Prisoners can be transferred to the SHU - regardless of good behavior or their sentence - if "confidential informants" label them gang members. Prisoners are not allowed to confront their accusers or defend against the allegation of gang membership, so many of those sent to the SHU under this policy may indeed be innocent of the so- called crime of gang membership. Once in the SHU, these prisoners can only leave if they inform on another "gang member," are paroled, or die. This is clearly a policy aimed at creating a need for SHU space and fanning the flames of the anti-gang (read: anti-oppressed nation youth) hysteria. This CDC policy violates the international bourgeoisie's own standards for fair treatment of prisoners.

Other CDC policies regulating even the most mundane aspects of prisoners' lives are designed to provoke prisoners and pave the way for further prisons expansion and crackdowns. Since the end of 1997, the CDC has (a) prohibited long hair and beards among male prisoners - some of whom wear their hair long for religious reasons, (b) taken away the $1 million budget for the prison law library, and (c) taken away prisoners' weights, restricting their already limited recreation and increasing hazards to their physical health.

As history teaches us, "oppression breeds resistance." In one example, on New Year's Day 1998 over 1,000 prisoners in Folsom State prison rebelled by throwing burning toilet paper over the tiers, banging on cell doors, and refusing to eat. In the words of a San Quentin prisoner, "We do have a little bit of life in here, debased as it is, but there's stuff to do. [The grooming restrictions are] just too much." On October 19 this year prisoners in the Corcoran SHU restarted a hunger strike to protest the brutal conditions. We have a responsibility on the outside and expose and fight the criminal injustice system.

A HISTORY OF AMERIKKKA'S OPPRESSIVE CONTROL UNITS
by an Iowa Prisoner, Oct. 18, 1995 (reprinted from MIM Notes)

In the late 18th century, the Walnut Street Prison in Philadelphia, PA, became the first penitentiary in U.S. history to experiment with the use of long-term isolation. This was based on the "Quaker theory" that without social interaction, a prisoner could not be influenced by fellow inmates and that a religious conversion would occur during the years of enforced meditation and result in the individual's reformation. This theory had monstrous effects upon those incarcerated between its walls. Some fell into a condition from which it was almost impossible to arouse them. Others became violently insane, some to the extreme of committing suicide. Those who underwent these isolating conditions were generally not reformed. In most cases individuals did not recover sufficient mental activity to be of any service to the community. It would seem that after such experimentation, that this type of treatment would be eliminated by prisoncrats. Instead the practice of confining prisoners to small cells for long periods of time is still in full force.

In modern times the U.S. penitentiary at Alcatraz became notorious for holding the most dangerous criminals within the U.S. penal system. In reality it became the first "control unit prison" used as a mechanism to enforce control over prisoners and society. More recently the super-max penitentiary in Marion, Illinois became the new "End of the line" for both state and federal prisoners who prisoncrats considered to be "institutional problems" or "too dangerous" to be housed in any other institution. Because of appalling conditions in October, 1983, a riot broke out and two guards were killed. This gave the prisoncrats the excuse to lock down the entire prison population. This meant that prisoners were confined to their cells for 23 and a half hours a day and all visits were suspended. Until a court order was enforced, even attorneys were denied access to the prison. Eventually the lockdown eased in some areas, but stringent and restrictive policies remained largely in effect. Months after the riot an emerging pattern of brutal repression against the 350 inmates became apparent. 60 additional guards were brought in from other parts of the federal prison system to systematically beat and brutalize scores of prisoners.

The idea of Marionization spread rapidly throughout the Amerikkkan prison system because prison officials cried that their institutions were unsafe and control over the convict in every way possible was desperately needed. The truth behind the reasons these control units are needed is they are a means of political, economic and social control of a whole class of oppressed and disenfranchised people. These include especially African, Latino and indigenous people who are a disproportionate part of control unit populations.

These torture units go beyond the usual constraints of maximum security prisons. Better defined as a prison within a prison, these control units are used to defeat prisoners' revolutionary attitudes, organization, militancy, legal and administrative challenges; and anything else the prison administrators deem objectionable. These control units have various names such as: Adjustment center, security housing unit (SHU), maximum control complex (MCC), administrative maximum (ad- max), intensive management unit, and administrative segregation (ad-seg). Every prison possesses the label control unit status if long-term punishment and/or isolation are used.

While conditions vary from prison to prison, the goal of these units is always to achieve the spiritual, psychological and physical breakdown of the prisoner. Once prisoners are confined to a control unit, gross human rights violations take place on a daily basis. With minor differences, these control units share the following features: Prisoners spend years of isolation in tiny cells, usually 6 by 8 feet for 22-23.5 hours a day. The short time that they do spend outside their cell within a cement or chain link "dog pen" that lacks any kind of equipment and proper space to for physical exercise. Participation in programs including religious services, educational/work/job training, congregate dining and exercise are strongly prohibited by the administration. Also greatly limited is access to medical and psychiatric care.

The most damaging aspect of control units is the physical and mental torture that is imposed upon their victims. First the methods of how physical torture is inflicted: Forced cell extractions by militarily attired, baton-wielding guards are constantly used without cause or warning. These guards violently beat, choke, and kick already-shackled prisoners. Sometimes these cell extractions are so abusive that prisoners require extensive medical attention. Devices such as tazer guns, pepper spray, maces and manacles are used and four-point restraints and hog-tying are routinely overused, despite the fact that such instruments have caused bodily harm and death.

Another cruel practice is "caging". This is where scantily clad or naked prisoners are held in outdoor cages for hours in cold and rainy weather. The systematic use of firehosing shackled prisoners while in their cells, with high-pressure cold water, then leaving standing water in the cell, usually accompanies a prisoner being put in "strip cell status." While frigid temperatures make it impossible to sleep or even lay down, a bright light shines upon the cell 24 hours a day.

For those who can endure the physical cruelty, the mental torture can surely affect one's sanity. One example of this is sensory deprivation. This is when the prisoncrats forbid prisoners to have books, televisions, radios and contact visits, including those with lawyers. In some control units it is impossible for prisoners to communicate amongst themselves. Verbal harassment containing derogatory or racial statements are made by the guards. Mail is misplaced, delayed, destroyed or censored. Threats are made against family and visitors. The passing of false confidential information to foster paranoia and fights between convicts is utilized to weaken any unionization between prisoners. Legal access is another area that is greatly violated. This includes the censoring of lawyer and court mail, guards monitoring attorney-client phone and visit conversations, and the hindering of access to legal books and materials.

Control Units are designed to administer the very most in sensory deprivation and dehumanization of inmates. Currently Iowa is building a control unit and this writer faces the possibility of being transferred because of my political and rebellious attitude toward the capitalist system. Essentially control units serve only one purpose, and that is to control society. All control units must be abolished, and the victims of these dungeons treated as survivors of torture.

i'm not getting the comments on this article. it says there are 26, but none show up. this message is a test to see if it shows up...

Don't do the Crime
If you can't do the Time

Surely you jest.

Joe F. i would like to ask you to stop your BS with don't do crime s#!t please, cause it get's poaple tired.

Look I care about them to but Iam talking about the inmates that are being harmed and brutalized that is just not right to be beated, rape, and harrassed a by the own people(police) that are supposed to be helping you to reform. About the hunger strike you have just said what type of beast you are...

This treatment is Inhumane and it must stop.

In response to your awful comment, until you've walked in their shoes, you should not comment. Think outside of the box. We feel total compassion for the victims and their families. The law sentenced them to prison, loss of freedom. Not punish, punish, and destroy. Be careful, when it rains,it does not rain on one house. Someone you care about could be affected, and you will certainly be singing a new tune.

A word to the wise...don't let yourself get into the system.

Obey the law. Don't do crime. Don't be stupid.

Yeah. Sure. We all know that.
That's not the point. You're missing it entirely.
The point is, that in a just society, the punishment should fit the crime. Instead, in our society, those accused of minor infractions who are not "jail material" have a nightmare inflicted on them, possibly including sodomistic rape and/or death. For something perhaps as minor as possessing a small amount of illegal substance - as our President has many times in his own past, and never once suffered any consequences for. Meanwhile, those who thrive in a prison atmosphere, the true criminals, generally regard prison as little more than an inconvenience, like a teenager might regard high school. Add to this the fact that the current prison system is a virtual industry engaged in manufacturing criminals out of young people who have made some unwise mistake. The way you talk, it sounds like they are all murderers, when this is far from the case. Most people in jail are there on minor drug offences or unpaid fines for summary offences.
Granted, its not a bright idea to break the law. That point isn't being debated. What's being debated is simple. Should the punishment fit the crime, or not?
If you want to find people who think it is wise to break the law to argue with, I think you'll have to look elsewhere. Try to focus.

There is exctally not enough torture.We need more.

Okay lets start with your family, line them up and maybe seeing will be believing for the thick-heads!

Was this suppose to make me feel sorrow for the dirt bag prisoner or adulation for the prison system.

PRISONS ARE NOT A PLACE OF REHABITITATION BUT A PLACE OF TORTURE MURDER, RAPE, AND MAKES A HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY FOR THE STATE. IT IS REALLY RARE FOR ANY INMATE TO COME OUT OF PRISON WITH ANY GOOD IDEALS OF LIFE, AND WHY IS THAT ? THE STATE LIKES IT THAT WAY.

If you need more info, about Prison life, just check out the real facts, go to florida prisoners, making the walls transparent. or e.mail kayleeuas [at] yahoo.com

We have many things that are wrong in our world, but what made us a Great Nation; IS THAT IDEA of Civil Rights for all the people.

In our History the fact of human and civil rights was are best way of dealing with all people, now we just toss away the kay and Build more Prisons, is it not Madness; that we can't see what we are making, a World of Prisons for all of Us.

Nobody has to go to Florida to see how horrible the prison system is in th USA. We have Jeremy Zern. He spent about five days in the SF County Jail Suite after committing random acts of violence at a peace rally. Jeremy is now preaching to us and his kindergarden class about his time in PELICAN BAY. Zern did you come out with any toooo's.

yes you are right. lets face it, we have now over 2.5 million people in prisons. we put kids in prison for Graffiti, we put adults in prison for being insane! we put people in prison for drugs. and what do we get back, hell we all know that answer don't we?
and withing 20 years we will have 15 to 20 million more inmates, but we will also have almost one billion people in this nation. with this we will also see fewer jobs and more prisons, that will make this nation nothing but a slave nation, it will still look like the nation most of us know and love, but in fact it will only be one more really evil crime nation. and most of the real evil will be in washington. we say we are fight saddam for the rights of people, but who setup saddam

as you know private contractors are useing prison labor more and more each year, inmates make less money each year and are forced to work in some states or not eat. this as you know is a civil and human outrage and is outlawed by some states but not all.

Okay go and join Saddam, YOU WILL LOVE HIS WAY OF DOING BUSINESS, Hell maybe he can help you beat someone to death, you will feel really good about yourself.

Good lets start with you, anyway maybe you would really like being put in a cell with 10 others guys for 20 years at age 18, and have a lot of time just thinking why and how the state has the right to beat and keep you in some hell. or maybe you just like government propaganda about how prison help inmates. read power of the cross by Tim Lahaye, AND START TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. by the way don't beat any old people or little kids. and see derekandalexking.org, Oh by the way you would love prison, so do beat someone up really good, like a cop!

Look I can Understand why People are really mad as hell, about the prison system, but lets faces it, our Prisons are hell, but not as bad as some nations prisons, We do have 2.5 million and by 2020 will have about 10 million in Our Prison System, but this is not do to capitalism, its do to the outrage of not Useing Our System to Make Jobs, over 50 % of all Inmates cannat read, over 25 to 30 percent are what we would call insane! and only about 20 percent are in our Prisons for what we at one time called real crime. lets start Asking this Government to help start real jobs and Start Understanding what is really Going on in this World.

one last thing, Felonies are the real Problem and the real issue, Stop Punishment after the Fact. Pepole Need Jobs and Real Lives after the Payment is done of prison. its Pointless to Punish More! Oh By the way I Am A political criminal. ( My crime was pc.69 year 2000)

If you think that our so called prison system is not Useing Torture, just check out the human rights watch. If you think this is not really happening in our system to children just check out Kay Lee's Site, and Read about just one case, in FLA, his name is Adrian Soles, Prison Number H03271, Or Read all about this case of a 16 year old boy. It may Help you open your eyes to what is coming down the Road for all of Us, Some Day Soon, If the System can use Torture as Punishment on Inmates it can use it on You, "And it will", And By The way his Trial Was Something of a Joke, and that is a Sad Fact.

stop the political prison system from murder and torture.

I Know That is a Sad Fact, many Murders and much evil is used as a Control in all our so called prison system, all States and our Government use this for one reason, its all about Controling the Inmates and Nothing about Helping the Inmates, its just Murderous ideas of Our System, and the Inmates and We are the real Political Victims of this Insane System. Remember 1 out of 3 Inmates come out of prison with AIDS OR HIV.
That is a sad fact of the political prison system, It
is murder, to go to any prison system in this nation, and our jails are as bad as saddam's prison system, in one year over 400 People were Killed or Died In Federal Prison! and next year it will be over 500.God only knows how many Really are Killed in our state prison system's each year, from what i can Fined Over 5,000 Each Year, Remember we have 50 states, many do not report the deaths of inmates.

is that called justice, maybe saddam would call it justice? or maybe bin laden would also see it as real justice? remember when was the last time you saw anyone in this government talking about civil or human rights? think about who is next! it maybe you.

For anyone who thinks that prison is a place where people can be helped, just read about what is going on with AID, HIV And God knows what! also do a little reading on what happened to a canadian citizen in are good prison's of helping the inmates! this canadian citizen was found hanging in a dark corner of his 10 to 8 cell, so say the "prison guards" his name was! Michael Van Straten. he is only one out of over 200 human beings that are in fact murder by the system each year! and remember that over 30,000 so called inmates are dieding in our so called prison system each year, from AIDS TO Names it!

Well one more state murder and watch the ass covering on this one, ex priest John Geoghan was Beaten to Death in his Cell, can i ask who is taking
responsibly? "the system people say its not our responsibly to watch our inmate" and one other little
thing that really is nuts is the words, like he is now in gods hands! that is a real outrage, of human rights and the fun thing about this is no one will say much,
and a great deal should be made of this murder and no one will do nothing about it but put some insane inmate who beat him to death in some prison cell for life, god help the poor insane people in our prison system, and yes its a real wonderment that more people are not killed each year and that is sad. sad fact of our nation and its ways of dealing with the mental ill.

Are you for real? We have the best resort/ prisons on the face of this planet. Why arnt you guys around to post their bail when they jammed up by a jury of your peers? Groups like yours just dont get it. rich or poor if you violate someones rights you get locked up. Morals and ethics people. Thats what keeps us in line. Rich or poor. You will change your mind when your rights are violated by these so called people you defend. With so many homeless children and woman on the streets starving. You should change your focus.

TO ALL OF YOU THAT THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE SHU-TERM,COME ON BE HUMAN,I BET IF IT WAS ONE OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS BEING MISTREATED & TORTURED YOU WOULD BE RIGHT THERE PROTESTING TOO.EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO BE TREATED LIKE A HUMAN AND MY SON IS A GOOD PERSON IN A WRONG SITUATION, HE IS NO MURDERER OR RAPIST OR BURGLAR HE WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME,SHOW YOU HAVE HEART,BE HUMAN.MY SON IS GOING TO THE SHU FOR DEFENDING HIMSELF,IS THAT FAIR?NO IT IS NOT. AND FOR WHOEVER IS AGINIST THE SHU PLEASE CONTACT ME SO THAT I CAN DO WHATEVER I CAN,I DO NOT WANT MY SON IN THIS SHU AND I WILL NOT SIT WITH MY NOSE IN THE AIR AND IGNORE WHAT IS GOING ON AND I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO MY SON WITHOUT A LOUD VOICE.

For those un-educated persons that are saying that SHU prisioners are animals and deserve to be there, You hane never been so wrong, For someone to say it is ok to Beat & Brutalize people must be just as cruel as the person who is doing the Brutalizing therefore you are A worse person than someone in the Shu. My son is going into the Shu for defending himself and until now I knew nothing of the Shu and now I have been researching and I"am shocked how all of this could be happening and allowed to happen. If you had A loved one on the Shu and this was happening you would be right there along with others protesting, you do not know these indivuals nor do you know their cases, my son does not deserve to be treated this way and I will not sit quiet and ignorant and watch this happen, get A heart and A conscience and join the fight and not be for the Shu but aginist it.

tO ALL OF YOU IGNORANT PEOPLE WHO THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, IF IT WAS A FAMLIY MEMBER OF YOURS THAT WAS BEING MISTREATED & TORTURED YOU WOULD BE RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE REST OF US PROTESTING, JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS IN PRISON DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE BAD OR BRUTAL. MY SON IS BEING PUT INTO THE SHU FOR TRYING TO PROTECT HIMSELF. EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO NOT BE TREATED WORSE THAN AN ANIMAL, I LOVE MY SON AND I WOULD NO SIT QUEIT AND LET THIS HAPPEN TO HIM. DO YOUR RESEACH, IF YOU WOULD THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER OF FAMOUS PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN IN PRISON.

tO ALL OF YOU IGNORANT PEOPLE WHO THINK YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, IF IT WAS A FAMLIY MEMBER OF YOURS THAT WAS BEING MISTREATED & TORTURED YOU WOULD BE RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE REST OF US PROTESTING, JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS IN PRISON DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE BAD OR BRUTAL. MY SON IS BEING PUT INTO THE SHU FOR TRYING TO PROTECT HIMSELF. EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO NOT BE TREATED WORSE THAN AN ANIMAL, I LOVE MY SON AND I WOULD NO SIT QUEIT AND LET THIS HAPPEN TO HIM. DO YOUR RESEACH, IF YOU WOULD THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER OF FAMOUS PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN IN PRISON.

a foreign national? held in a US prison? Shameful! Call the president of aztlan!