RALLY at the San Francisco Federal Courthouse while the four CA Prisoner Hunger Strike and Ashker Class Representatives ‘Meet and Confer’ with CDCr to address the continuing solitary conditions that violate the Ashker lawsuit settlement agreement. The four prisoner hunger strike representatives will be present in the courtroom, an historic presence!
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
RALLY 11:30am
Phillip Burton Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse
450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
Help create a strong show of solidarity with prisoners fighting for human rights!
What’s going on? The prisoner class-led movement and the Ashker v. Gov of CA class action lawsuit resulted in the release of over 1400 people from solitary confinement Security Housing Units (SHUs) to what the CA Department of Corrections (CDCr) calls “General Population.” However, many of those people continue to be subjected to conditions of extreme isolation. With little to no out-of-cell time and no chance for social interaction, they are still in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.
On July 3, 2018, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled:
“The Settlement Agreement was intended to remove Plaintiffs from detention in the SHU, where they were isolated in a cell for 22 ½ to 24 hours a day.… many Plaintiffs [now] spend an average of less than an hour of out-of-cell time each day, which is similar to the conditions they endured in the SHU. … This demonstrates a violation of the Settlement Agreement.” FULL RULING HERE
and “…a substantial percentage of Plaintiffs in Restricted Custody General Population (RCGP) are …not permitted to exercise in small group yards or engage in group leisure activities. This does not comply with the terms of the Settlement Agreement.” FULL RULING HERE
The Ashker Plaintiff class reps and legal team were ordered to meet and confer* with CDCr lawyers to explore a resolution of these two issues.
The four prisoner hunger strike representatives- Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (Dewberry), Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, and George Franco- will be present in the SF courtroom.
Please join the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS) outside the San Francisco Federal Courthouse to show our solidarity with prisoners who struggle against solitary confinement torture, who organize across racial/geographic lines, and who- through hunger strikes, massive solidarity, formal complaints, the Agreement to End Hostilities, and the Ashker civil rights class action lawsuit- forced CDCR to release people from solitary confinement SHUs. The organizing prisoners brought international attention
to CA’s solitary confinement practices as cruel and unusual punishment and its indefinite (forever) solitary terms as depriving prisoners of due process. CDCr had tortured people through inhumane and extreme isolation for 10, 20, 30+, and, in beloved revolutionary brother Hugo Pinell’s case, nearly 46 years. Unconscionable.
Now, although CDCr is no longer allowed to impose endless solitary, indeterminate SHU terms, many class members released from SHU to “General Population” have been forced to spend as much or more time locked in their cells as when they were in SHU, with little to no rehabilitative or educational programming or social interaction with other people. Also, in the Restricted Custody General Population (RCGP), a unit in Pelican Bay State Prison created as a result of the Ashker settlement, prisoners are being prohibited from interacting and participating in group activities. Ashker prisoner representatives and attorneys still need our support fighting these conditions of solitary confinement. CDCr has filed a Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit about Judge Wilken’s two rulings in favor of more out-of-cell time and social interaction.
Please join us outside the San Francisco Federal Courthouse on Tuesday 11:30am, and bring a friend, in a strong show of solidarity with prisoner human rights.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IS TORTURE
UNITY INSIDE, UNITY OUTSIDE
IMPORTANT NOTE: August 21, 2018 is the 47 year memorial anniversary of revered prison activist, George Jackson, who was assassinated by CA guards in San Quentin prison. It is also the first day of the 2018 National Prison Strike for humane living conditions, access to rehabilitation, sentencing reform, and the end of modern day slavery.
*Meet and confers are usually private with no judge present. This one will be in the presence of Magistrate Robert Illman and not open to the public.
“We will be with the prisoners…in the courts, in the legislature, and out in the community. We will use every venue available to us, UNTIL THE TORTURE IS ENDED.” Marie Levin, sister of incarcerated Prisoner Human Rights Movement Representative, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa
For more information: Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition 510-426-5322, phssreachingout@gmail.com
prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity 