From: Raw Story
In several men’s prisons across California, colored signs hang above cell doors: blue for black inmates, white for white, red, green or pink for Hispanic, yellow for everyone else.
Though it’s not an official policy, at least five California state prisons have a color-coding system.
On any given day, the color of a sign could mean the difference
between an inmate exercising in the prison yard or being confined to
their cell. When prisoners attack guards or other inmates, California
allows its corrections officers to restrict all prisoners of that same
race or ethnicity to prevent further violence.
Prison officials have said such moves can be necessary in a system plagued by some of the worst race-based gang violence in the country. Just last week,
at least four inmates were taken to the hospital after a fight broke
out between over 60 black and Hispanic inmates in a Los Angeles jail.
The labels “provide visual cues that allow prison officials to
prevent race-based victimization, reduce race-based violence, and
prevent thefts and assaults,” wrote the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation, in response to a lawsuit.
But legal advocates say such practices are deeply problematic. “I
haven’t seen anything like it since the days of segregation, when you
had colored drinking fountains,” said Rebekah Evenson, an attorney with
the nonprofit Prison Law Office.
A federal class-action lawsuit
filed in 2011 by the Prison Law Office says race-based restrictions are
an ineffective and unjust way of keeping prisoners safe. “Rather than
targeting actual gang members, they assume every person is a gang member
based on the color of their skin,” said Evenson, one of the lead
lawyers in the case. According to the ACLU National Prison Project,
California is the only state known to use race-based lockdowns.
State and federal courts have ruled against the practice multiple times. One state court judge concluded in 2002 that “managing inmates on the basis of ethnicity” was counterproductive, and instead increased hostilities among prisoners.
A recent review of corrections department reports, done for the Prison Law Office, suggests it’s still common practice. The analysis
found that nearly half the 1,445 security-based lockdowns between
January 2010 and November 2012 affected specific racial or ethnic
groups. Inmates labeled as Hispanic were the most common targets, while
inmates identified as “other,” (anyone not labeled black, white or
Hispanic) were the least likely to be restricted.
Rejecting an inmate’s complaint in 2010, one prison’s inmate appeals reviewer noted that the department’s “policy is that when there is an incident involving any race, all inmates of that race are locked up.” Another review cited the same policy.
California’s corrections department spokesperson Terry Thornton said
that’s not department policy. Thornton said policy dictates that
restrictions will not “target a specific racial or ethnic group unless
there is a legitimate penological interest in doing so.”
“A legitimate penological interest is safety, security,” Thornton said. “It’s protecting people’s lives.”
Prisoner advocates say race-based lockdowns may be yet another consequence of California’s crowding crisis. In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld a federal court ruling
that crowding in the state’s prisons was severe enough to constitute
cruel and unusual punishment, and required the state to cut its prison
population.
Prison officials have blamed crowding
for contributing to “an increase in riots and disturbances.” And the
more inmates there are, the more likely it is that prison officials will
respond to violence with broad-brush security measures, legal experts
said.
The state prison’s population has dropped recently, though it’s still at nearly 150 percent its designed capacity.
The state’s corrections officer union sided with plaintiffs in the
Supreme Court case, claiming overcrowding compromised their ability to
effectively run a prison. “Overcrowding in California’s prisons
substantially increases the use of lockdowns,” the organization wrote in a legal brief.
Certain security situations might require inmates to be kept from the
prison yard, prohibited from receiving visitors, or blocked from
classes and drug rehabilitation meetings 2014 restrictions the
department refers to as “modified programming.” Analysis of corrections
department reports found that nearly all of security lockdowns last year restricted outdoor exercise.
Hanif Abdullah is one of the inmates suing the state. Currently at
California State Prison, Solano, Abdullah asserts he was placed on
“modified programming” multiple times solely because he is black. A
devout Muslim, he says he was kept from attending religious services as well as receiving adequate health care.
Another prisoner in the suit, Robert Mitchell, claims he was locked down “nearly continuously” for a year and a half at High Desert State Prison, because the sign outside his cell marked him as black. Mitchell testified that he suffered “muscular atrophy 2026 and severe pain” when he was kept from exercising a leg injury.
The state denies that the lockdowns were race-based or unnecessarily long.
Race-based lockdowns may end up being used simply because it’s not
always clear-cut who’s in a gang and who’s not. Inmates may side with
members of their own race or ethnicity for protection during a fight,
without being a member of a race-based gang like the Aryan Brotherhood.
UCLA law professor Sharon Dolovich, who has testified against
race-based lockdowns, said identifying the “enforcers” of such gangs
would be a more effective deterrent to violence than locking down entire
racial or ethnic groups.
Thornton, the prisons’ spokesperson, said the violence of a few
inmates has a large impact on the entire prison. “A lot of inmates come
to prison and they just want to do their time and go home,” she said.
Identifying “enforcers” has challenges. A more targeted approach requires more trained personnel, which may be a tall order for California’s overburdened system. And another lawsuit brought
on behalf of California prisoners claims that despite recent changes,
prison officials still rely on questionable evidence, from tattoos to
newspaper clippings, to determine which inmates are gang members.
Beyond discrimination claims, the Prison Law Office lawsuit alleges
lockdowns often last longer than necessary. Forty percent of security
restrictions lasted less than a week, the analysis found, and more than
15 percent lasted more than a month. The complaint alleges some have
lasted up to 10 years. MORE
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