JUSTICE FOR TERRY: CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT IN PRISON WITHIN SHU.

Thousands of men and women are incarcerated who are released every year back into society and the majority are without any form of transitional therapy due to a lack of support or assistance while in.

When the incarcerated moves from prison to reentering society again, more than two-thirds will be arrested within three years and almost half will go back to prison either on a technical violation or for committing a new crime.

Prisoner reentry services only go so far, and those trying to reintegrate back into society can be very difficult to do, to say the least. Even more so for those who have been subjected to the harsh prison conditions of isolation cells, solitary confinement and mental units which populate our prisons today in what is termed as The SHU (Special Housing Unit). Special housing refers to maximum security living units within our prison systems where inmates are placed based on the result of misconduct or as a result of circumstances that warrant their separation from the general population.

Think of it as isolation chamber of many sorts, but because the prison system is so over crowded, they have made it an acceptable practice to house two inmates in one isolation cell. These cells are called “the hole” and those held in isolation live in these concrete made cells the size of an average parking space, usually windowless, cut completely off from others by solid steel doors. The beds are made of pure steel. The toilets have a timer valve that shuts off the water usually after 3 flushes and the sinks have no taps, just buttons. The cells are freezing cold in the winter and burning up hot in the summer. The bright and blinding lights stay on virtually 24/7. Prisoners spend 23 hours a day during the week and 24 hours a day on weekends and holidays in the 6 by 9 foot cells. They are allowed 1 hour of recreation a day monday to friday, providing nothing changes up with conditions and situations. However, the recreation you may think is all swell, but I am sorry to inform you that its in a 10 by 10 foot dog pound cage.

If they are lucky, they are allowed a change of jumpsuit and under clothes twice a week.

It’s a world unto itself. Where boredom, emptiness and desperation come together, seeping into your non existence and eventually overcoming your mind in many ways. That is why it’s incumbent upon each individual to either build themselves up or else the mental conditions will be what consumes you. Solitary confinement is supposed to be for the worst of the worst, violent convicts who have proved themselves unwilling or unable to function on the mainline. But it’s turned into a thing where to put inmate undesirables.

For example, an inmate who is general population living quarters can run into trouble everyday that will land him in solitary confinement. Take my word for it, I have found myself in SHU for some of the most ridiculous reasons to some reasons where I said to myself "buckle up kiddo, here comes the ride." I once was throwed in the SHU for 3 months because a officer said he saw me flush something that look liked a cellphone. The charges were dropped after 3 months being in the "hole." Then on one occasion I was booked for testing positive for marijuana. I was on my work site and was called to the Lieutenants Office as a "suspect." Meaning an enemy of mine or a snitch dropped my name in a note which we call "kites" because they fly into the prison administrators hands and they cause problems. Me personally, I call them "paper knives" because a snitch note is equivalent to stabbing a man in his back with a paper knife...... Well I tested positive on the urine sample cup but the lab results came back 5 days later confirming "Cannabis." I spent 3 months in the SHU and was allowed to return back GP (General Population) after my 90 days disciplinary sanction was completed.

However, inmates who go to the hole are those who have problems paying their drug or gambling debts, getting into fights, stabbing other ininmates or who the executive administration or an officer feels is being disruptive. Prisoners in isolation are treated as subhumans because it undermines humanity and the identity of the inmate. It causes deprivation and has been widely viewed as torture and some inmates eventually attempt or successfully commit suicide to escape long term disciplinary isolation. All interactions are conducted over a telephone with plexiglas divider or bars between prisoners and other humans. You get only one 15 minute phone call a month in the SHU and you are kept isolated. Every time you leave the cell for rec or a shower you're handcuffed and escorted by several officers like moving Hannibal Lecter. It doesn’t matter if the prisoner is a mass murderer or white collar criminal, you are treated the same. Every aspect of their lives is under official control. ln the SHU your only view to the world is a 6 x 12 inch door window and a slot that is 4 inches wide where the guards pass your food trays, change of clothing and hygiene items through that same slot in the steel door.

The environment is so grossly abnormal, so foreign to normal human interactions that it twists the insides of your stomache. Your mind will get bent if you are there too long and end up off center unless you're a different breed like me who believe the only conditions I cannot bear is death, but anything such as disciplinary isolation to me is simply making an adjustment. However, for some, right becomes whatever and wrong no longer exists. In any special housing unit the screams are normal, its just of those souls who have lost all ability to control themselves and the sound reverberates like a symphony of the sick and damned.

The disturbing behavior that goes on includes prisoner’s smearing feces on their bodies, the walls of the cell, eating it or throwing it at guards when they open the tray slot. They do other things from wailing and screaming while banging on the cell doors; having delusional conversations in their heads and even mutilating their bodies or swallowing razors. All of this behavior is hidden from the press and not known by society because in solitary confinement, isolation cells are off limits to journalists and these units are never shown to the media on official visits. Daily life becomes very hard and some will never be the same again. The craziness that exists is rampant, it becomes suffocating and each morning starts with anger before the anxiety. It is very difficult to cope with when you have the noise at all hours, the doors being kicked on and men screaming, letting loose their pent up rage and acting like lunatics because its just a fact that some inmates experience intense paranoia, depression, memory loss, perceptual distortions and anxiety. Their only relief is a mental health worker who stops by the door and looks into the window for five seconds at each cell while asking, “Are you ok,” before moving on.

Solitary confinement is a form of deprivation, in that perception shrinks the dimensions of the visual, auditory and even sense of taste are among the depravities. Sometimes things can get out of control to where prisoners are teargassed in their cells, pepper sprayed, four point restrained to the bed, stripped of thier jumpsuit and extracted from their cells forcefully for being uncooperative, going on hunger strikes where they have to be force fed by court order, to refusing to take their mental or medical medications like Thorzine.

The Bureau of Prisons has agreed to undergo a “comprehensive and independent assessment of its use of solitary confinement in the nation’s federal prisons.” This is a positive step forward, but more has to be done. With all the prisoners coming home, a high number of whom have spent time in SHU, reentry programs and transitional services need to be reevaluated and developed to help those in need so they can readjust to society. With a thorough and detailed investigation, the darkest secrets of the prison industrial complex can come to light and be corrected.