[GPSCC-chat] Fw: Please Make Calls on Today to Pass SB 61 - Limit the Use of Solitary Confinement for Youth

[Caroline Yacoub]

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: shane que hee <squehee at ucla.edu>
To: 
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 3:30 PM
Subject: Please Make Calls on Today to Pass SB 61 - Limit the Use of  Solitary Confinement for Youth
  


Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 14:20:31
-0400 (EDT)
>From: Youth Justice Coalition <freelanow at yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: freelanow at yahoo.com
>Subject: Please Make Calls on Today to Pass SB 61 - Limit the Use of
Solitary Confinement for Youth
>
>
>  
>
>Thank you to everyone who is working so hard to pass THE SUPER SEVEN -
six bills and one resolution that are working there way through the State
Legislature and will dramatically impact youth justice in California. 
>
>Of these bills, SENATE BILL 61 - Senator Yee - has passed the State
Senate and will be heard in the State Assembly's Public Safety Committee
on Tuesday, June 25th.
>
>SB 61 will limit the use of solitary confinement for youth in
California's local juvenile halls, Probation camps, and ranches and in
the state's Division of Juvenile Justice institutions unless the youth
poses a threat to other youth or the institution, and only then when all
other means of intervention have been attempted. 
>
>Solitary confinement leads to higher levels of suicide, mental illness
and recidivism among all age-groups, and is especially harmful to
youth.  The practice is considered a form of torture under
international law.  The United States leads the world in its
use.
>
>PLEASE TAKE A FEW MOMENTS ON MONDAY, JUNE 24th TO CALL MEMBERS OF THE
STATE ASSEMBLY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE AND URGE THEM TO PASS SENATE BILL
61 WHEN IT COMES BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON TUESDAY:
>
>Call each member's office and say, "Hello, this is (give your name
and organization or school) and I am calling to urge that the Assembly
Member vote yes on Senate Bill 61 to limit solitary confinement for youth
when it comes before the Assembly Public Safety Committee tomorrow, June
25th."  If you live, work or go to school in the member's
district, mention that too.  Thank you!!!  That's all it takes. 
>
>To get a view of solitary confinement from the inside, read Tanisha
Denard's story below.  She testified before the California State
Senate's Public Safety Committee when the bill was first heard in April. 
>
>Contact Information for the Assembly Public Safety
Committee
>
>Tom Ammiano, Committe Chair - (916) 319-2017
>Melissa Melendez, Vice-Chair - (916) 319-2067
>Reginald Jones-Sawyer, (916) 319-2059
>Holly Mitchell, (916) 319-2054
>Bill Quirk, (916) 319-2020
>Nancy Skinner, (916) 319-2015
>Marie Waldron, (916) 319-2075
>
> 
>Tanisha's Story
>
>My name is Tanisha Denard.  I am a recent high school graduate and
a Youth Organizer with the Youth Justice Coalition. 
> 
>I was arrested at school for getting in a fight and put on
Probation.  Whenever I was late to school, the police would be
surrounding our campus giving out truancy tickets.  After a few
times getting tickets, my Probation was violated, and I was sent to
juvenile hall. 
> 
>From the time I entered the gate at juvenile hall, I felt anxious and
hopeless.   I remember the sound and sight of the big, bulky,
metal wire gate opening up and then shutting behind me. 
> 
>I took showers with a staff watching from the beginning to the end. 
And there was no curtain on the window, so I could also see male staff
come around during showers for the whole time I was locked up.
> 
>For the first few days, I was very distant.  I wouldn’t eat or go to
the day room (a large room where you could sit with other people). 
I felt unsure and uncomfortable.  But instead of trying to counsel
me, the Probation staff just stopped talking to me – they even stopped
asking if I wanted food or dayroom time.  Even though I wasn’t on
lock-down, I felt like I was in solitary confinement already. 
> 
>I guess the staff thought I was depressed, so then they put me on
lockdown for real - no cell mate, no dayroom time, no hope.  The
rooms are about 5 feet by ten feet with a metal door and a small
shatter-proof window that you can see out of into a small part of the
hall if you stand on your toes.  With the exception of the door, the
walls are all cinderblock, painted white.  Some sections of the wall
are covered in gang-related tagging and brown stains that look like
smeared feces or blood.  
> 
>Almost everyone in lock down was in shorts and a tee shirt.  The air
conditioning would be on full-blast.  It was freezing.  
Once in that cell, you would not come out again until it was time again
to take your shower – 23 hours later.
> 
>I felt completely unwanted and unnoticed.  I started to feel tense
when any of the guards came close to my cell, paranoid that I had done
something wrong, when in reality, I had been by myself for 23 hours of
the day. 
> 
>It is by far the worst feeling I had ever experienced.
> 
>There were also girls in the unit who tried to kill themselves or cut
themselves, and they were also put in the box.  You had little or no
human contact, except when you were brought food or the nurse brought
some people their meds.  I even know people who hid their meds in
their mouth so they could save them up to get a stronger high.
> 
>I believe that the cruel and unusual punishment of the SHU made it easier
for the Probation Department to treat everyone in juvenile hall this
way.  Once you get used to locking a person in a cage, it becomes
normal for you.  You don’t notice how harmful it is, and these
conditions start to spread throughout the facility.  Even for people
who weren’t on lock down, nights for everyone were also under lock-down
conditions.  From 8pm or 9pm until 6am, you are locked into a single
person cell that looks exactly like the box.  It’s also freezing,
and if you’re found with an extra blanket or sweatshirt, you are accused
of having contraband and punished.  We had no books or writing
materials, so nights were endless – just you, your thoughts and the
screams or crying of the young people in the cells next to you. The
sheets and underwear were often stained with urine, blood and
feces.   Just like in the box, people had to beg to use the
restroom, were ignored or told to shut up, and were sometimes forced to
pee on the floor or into a towel or sheet.    
> 
>Your family and the community expect that you are safe and
unharmed.   In reality you might be safe from other youth – but
not from yourself.  Being locked down makes you feel that you are
worthless to society.  You start to think about any way to escape –
even if it means suicide.  When I got home, I felt I had
changed.  My family could not believe my experience – and it
constantly made me feel like I was a bad person.  That feeling of
hopelessness had only increased.
> 
>I think all young people deserve something better that a 23-hour
cell.  If we need to heal or calm down, the best thing would be to
create a nature park, or have us work outside to grow food, or take
vocational trainings so we are ready to start our lives over after
release.
>
>HAVE YOU ENDORSED THE LA FOR YOUTH CAMPAIGN YET?  Click HERE - it'll
take just a minute!
>
>Youth Justice Coalition
>@ Chuco's Justice Center
>On the border between South Central L.A. and Inglewood
>one light west of Florence and Crenshaw
>1137 E. Redondo Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90302
>323-235-4243 * Fax: 323-846-9472
>freelanow at yahoo.com
>www.youth4justice.org  
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