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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 2:10 am
Time: 2:10 am
Results for maximum security prisons
5 results foundAuthor: Amnesty International Title: USA: Cruel Isolation: Amnesty' International's Concerns About Conditions in Arizona Meximum Security Prisons Summary: This report describes Amnesty International’s concerns relating to the conditions under which prisoners are confined in the Special Management Units (SMU) of Arizona State Prison Complex (ASPC)-Eyman and other maximum custody facilities operated by the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADOC). More than 2,900 prisoners are held in Arizona’s highest security maximum custody facilities, the majority in the SMUs at ASPC-Eyman. Most are confined alone in windowless cells for 22 to 24 hours a day in conditions of reduced sensory stimulation, with little access to natural light and no work, educational or rehabilitation programs. Prisoners exercise alone in small, enclosed yards and, apart from a minority who have a cell-mate, have no association with other prisoners. Many prisoners spend years in such conditions; some serve out their sentences in solitary confinement before being released directly into the community. While the Arizona authorities classify maximum security inmates as those posing the highest institutional security risk, Amnesty International’s findings suggest that some prisoners are confined to the units who do not fit this criteria. The organization is further concerned that many of those confined to the units suffer from mental illness or disability and are held in conditions likely to exacerbate their illness or disability. This report focuses mainly on conditions in the SMUs, but also includes information on other isolation units, including the Lumley Unit Special Management Area at the women’s prison at Perryville, and the maximum custody unit at Rincon Minors, a facility for male youths aged 14 to 17 who have been tried and convicted as adults. Amnesty International recognizes that it may sometimes be necessary to segregate prisoners for disciplinary or security purposes. However, all measures must be consistent with international standards for humane treatment. Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the USA has ratified, provides that “all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”, a standard which the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee, the treaty monitoring body, has stressed is a “fundamental and universally applicable rule”.1 As described below, Amnesty International considers that conditions in the above facilities fall short of this standard and that the cumulative effects of the conditions, particularly when imposed for a prolonged or indefinite period, constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in violation of international law. In recognition of the severe effects of such treatment, international human rights treaty bodies and experts have called on states to limit the use of solitary confinement in prisons so that it is imposed only in exceptional circumstances, for a short period of time. In a recent report on this issue, reviewing the practice internationally, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture defined solitary confinement as the “physical and social isolation of individuals who are confined to their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day”.2 In conducting its research, Amnesty International regrets that its request to tour the SMU units at ASPC-Eyman was denied and that ADOC declined to meet with the organization’s delegates when they were in Arizona in July 2011. As a human rights organization which has visited prisons around the world, Amnesty International is concerned that the department was unwilling to allow it to view the facilities first-hand or to discuss its policies and practice. While the organization has thus not been able to obtain the views of the department regarding the issues raised, its concerns are based on a range of sources, including prisoners and prisoner advocates, present and former prison staff members and ADOC’s written policies and procedures. Details: London: Amnesty International, 2012. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2012 at: Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 124883 Keywords: Maximum Security PrisonsPrisons (Aricona) Prisoners (Arizona)Solitary Confinement |
Author: Lowen, Matthew Title: Lifetime Lockdown: How Isolation Conditions Impact Prisoner Reentry Summary: Imagine living completely alone 23 hours a day for several months or years, then being placed in a three-person cell in an overcrowded, noisy dormitory, or worse, released directly into society with no chance to adjust. This is the reality faced by many people in Arizona state prisons. In recent years, prisoner reentry has emerged as an area of concern for social service agencies, prisoner advocates, religious congregations, neighborhoods, and advocacy organizations across the country. Much of the discourse about prisoner reentry and recidivism has focused on what are referred to as “collateral consequences”: the structural barriers erected by institutions that bar people with criminal convictions from voting, housing, employment, welfare assistance, and other factors critical to ensuring success upon release. Rarely is there discussion of the direct impact that prison conditions have on a person’s cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral functioning and therefore, on that person’s ability to function as a member of society post-incarceration. Yet, a growing body of research clearly demonstrates the deleterious mental health impacts of incarceration in super maximum-security—or “supermax”—environments, commonly referred to as “lockdown,” the “SHU,” or “Ad-Seg.” While there is some variation, these units generally employ long-term solitary confinement—prisoners are housed alone in small cells for 23-24 hours per day with no activities with other inmates (meals, recreation, etc.), for years at a time. These conditions amount to sensory deprivation and have been widely documented to produce a set of mental health symptoms that can be extremely debilitating to prisoners, including visual and auditory hallucinations, hypersensitivity to noise and touch, paranoia, uncontrollable feelings of rage and fear, and massive distortions of time and perception. Studies have found that supermax confinement increases the risk of prisoner suicides, and this research is borne out here in Arizona. A recent investigation found that Arizona's official prison-suicide rate is 60 percent higher than the national average, and that the majority of suicides took place in supermax units.1 Combining these crippling symptoms with the extensive legal and structural barriers to successful reentry is a recipe for failure. Prisoners in supermax are deeply traumatized and essentially socially disabled. When their sentence ends, they are given little or no preparation for release, and then return to their communities where they are expected to obtain housing and employment. This report represents the first effort to directly link conditions in Arizona’s supermax prisons with the state’s high recidivism rate. Because the statistical evidence of this link is already available, the basis of this report is qualitative research conducted by an anthropologist, Dr. Brackette F. Williams. Dr. Williams interviewed newly released individuals who had spent a significant portion of their time in prison in supermax facilities. This research demonstrates the “why” and “how” of this causal relationship, illustrating the impacts of long-term solitary confinement on actual re-entry experiences. The findings are a wake-up call to corrections officials, state leaders, and social service agencies, who are often completely unaware of the prison experiences of their clients or how to assist them in this transition. The American Friends Service Committee hopes that this research will add to the growing body of evidence that the practice of long-term solitary confinement in supermax units creates more problems than it is purported to solve and should be abolished. Details: Tucson, AZ: American Friends Service Committee, Arizona Office, 2012. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 11, 2012 at: http://afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/documents/AFSC-Lifetime-Lockdown-Report_0.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/documents/AFSC-Lifetime-Lockdown-Report_0.pdf Shelf Number: 125981 Keywords: Maximum Security PrisonsPrisoner ReentryPrisonersSolitary Confinement (Arizona)Supermax Prisons |
Author: Amnesty International Title: Entombed: Isolation in the U.S. Federal Prison System Summary: The USA incarcerates thousands of prisoners in long-term or indefinite solitary confinement. This report describes Amnesty International's concerns about conditions of severe isolation at the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum (ADX) facility in Colorado, currently the only super-maximum security prison operated by the federal government. It also examines conditions in Special Management Units (SMUs) and Security Housing Units (SHUs) operated at other federal prison facilities. Since Amnesty International toured ADX prison in 2001 subsequent requests to return to the facility have been denied. The organisation is concerned that as conditions of isolation within federal prisons have become more severe, external oversight of the facilities has declined. With prisoners held in their cells for 22-24 hours a day in severe physical and social isolation, Amnesty International believes the conditions described in this report breach international standards for the humane treatment of prisoners. Many have been held in isolation for prolonged or indefinite periods - without a means to change their circumstances - amounting to a violation of the prohibition against cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law. The report also details disturbing evidence of prisoners with serious mental illness being detained in harsh isolated conditions without adequate screening, treatment or monitoring. Details: London: AI, 2014. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2014 at: http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/P4384USAEntombedReportFinalWeb15072014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.amnesty.org/sites/impact.amnesty.org/files/P4384USAEntombedReportFinalWeb15072014.pdf Shelf Number: 132691 Keywords: Federal PrisonsMaximum Security PrisonsPrisonersPunishmentSolitary ConfinementSupermax Prisons |
Author: Lowen, Matthew Title: Still Buried Alive: Arizona Prisoner Testimonies on Isolation in Maximum-Security Summary: Still Buried Alive: Arizona Prisoner Testimonies on Isolation in Maximum Security (2014) highlights the voices of maximum-security prisoners and catalogues their testimonies describing those experiences. The report, a critical follow-up to Buried Alive (2007) and Lifetime Lockdown (2012), was released on the same day that the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) opened 500 newly constructed maximum-security prison beds in ASPC Lewis in Buckeye, Arizona. Details: Tucson, AZ: American Friends Service Committee, Arizona, 2014. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 15, 2015 at: http://afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/documents/Still%20Buried%20Alive%20FINAL%2011.30.14.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/documents/Still%20Buried%20Alive%20FINAL%2011.30.14.pdf Shelf Number: 134314 Keywords: Maximum Security PrisonsPrisoner ReentryPrisonersSolitary Confinement (Arizona)Supermax Prisons |
Author: Correctional Association of New York Title: Clinton Correctional Facility: 2012-2014 Summary: Clinton Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison that has a Main compound and an Annex, and is located in Dannemora, NY, in the northernmost part of the state. Established in 1845 and sometimes referred to as "Little Siberia" because of the harsh weather conditions and intimidating environment, Clinton is the third oldest Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) prison in New York State. Clinton has a massive foreboding stone and cement wall on its perimeter, immediately adjacent to the Main Street of Dannemora. Like many other maximum security prisons in the state, the Main is lined with long corridors of stacked tiers of cells, while the Annex has dorm-style housing. Throughout its long history, parts of Clinton had at various stages operated as a "mining prison" where incarcerated persons were forced to work in the mining and manufacturing of iron, a site for the death penalty by electrocution, a tuberculosis ward, a state mental hospital for people declared insane after conviction, a mental health treatment center, one of the largest employers in the area, and always a prison for incarcerating people convicted of the most serious crimes. Clinton has also had an infamous history of violence, brutality, and abuse by correction officers, as well as unrest, violence, organizing, and lawsuits by people incarcerated at the facility. Incidents within this history have ranged from what has been classified as one of the largest prison rebellions in New York State history in 1929, to a series of successful brutality lawsuits in the 1990s, to more recent alleged staff assaults, incarcerated person fights, and facility-wide lockdowns. In the mid- 1990s, for example, the New York Times went so far as to report that Federal judges "have repeatedly found that excessive force by guards has violated [incarcerated persons'] civil rights," that corrections experts found the settling of 10 brutality lawsuits at Clinton to be "extraordinary, since [incarcerated persons'] rarely win such cases and officials rarely settle them," that Clinton had an "internal culture that tolerates a higher level of violence than others, and where guards are more likely to test the boundaries of what is considered acceptable force," and that vast racial and cultural disparities between incarcerated persons and staff exacerbated conflicts. Today, Clinton is the largest DOCCS prison in the state, with a total capacity of 2,956 people in the Main and Annex combined. As discussed in detail below, the facility continues to be plagued by violence and staff brutality at a level that is among the worst of DOCCS prisons. In addition to its general confinement in the Main and Annex, at the time of our visit Clinton operated two unique residential programs separated from the rest of the facility, Merle Cooper and the Assessment and Program Preparation Unit (APPU), as well as a residential Intermediate Care Program (ICP) for people with serious mental health needs, and a Special Housing Unit (SHU) and additional SHU and long-term keeplock isolated confinement cell blocks. Details: New York: Correctional Association of New York, 2015. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 20, 2015 at: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Clinton-Correctional-Facility-Final-Draft-2.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Clinton-Correctional-Facility-Final-Draft-2.pdf Shelf Number: 136508 Keywords: Correctional InstitutionsMaximum Security PrisonsPrison ConditionsPrison ViolencePrisons |