A landmark settlement was recently made in Ashker v Governor of California that will effectively end indeterminate, long-term solitary confinement in all California State prisons.
The case was a federal class action law suit brought on behalf of the prisoners held in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison who have spent more than a decade in solitary confinement. The prisoners were often held without any instances of violent conduct or serious rule infractions occurring and no legitimate process for transferring out of isolation made available to them. Ashker argued that prolonged solitary confinement of this kind resulted in a violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and the absence of meaningful review constituted an infraction of the prisoner’s right to due process.
SHU prisoners would be required to stay in an isolated, windowless cell for up to 22½ to 24 hours a day and were refused phone calls, physical contact from other inmates and denied access to vocational, recreational and educational programming. When the case was filed in 2012, more than 500 prisoners had been isolated in the SHU at Pelican Bay for over 10 years and 78 individuals for more than 20 years. This use of indeterminate SHU confinement was to deter gang affiliation within prisons. However, gang ‘affiliation’ was assessed without considering whether the prisoner was actually involved in gang activity.
The settlement converts California’s use of solitary confinement from a status-based system to one based on behaviour. Solitary confinement will only be used in circumstances where there have been serious rule violations by prisoners. It also restricts the amount of time a prisoner can spend in SHU in Pelican Bay and provides a two-year step-down program for transfer from SHU to the general prison population. A new non-solitary but high-security unit will be established for those prisoners which have been held in SHU for more than 10 years. They will be able to interact with other prisoners while being able to have contact visits and partake in recreation, educational and vocational programming.
This settlement will prevent long term use of solitary confinement in Californian state prisons and prevent harmful physical and psychological damage being suffered by prisoners. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has recognised that the use of solitary confinement for more that 15 days can constitute torture.
Click here for the judgement in Ashker v Governor of California.
Click here to read a comprehensive summary of the settlement terms.