May 15, 2014

Senator Kevin de Le!n Senator Loni Hancock

Chair Senate Appropriations Comm. State Capitol, Room 2082
State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, CA 95814
Sacramento, CA 95814

Senator Jerry Hill Senator Ricardo Lara
State Capitol, Room 5064 State Capitol, Room 5050
Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814

Senator Alex Padilla Senator Darrell Steinberg
State Capitol, Room 4038 State Capitol, Room 205
Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814

Senator Mimi Walters (Vice Chair) Senator Ted Gaines
State Capitol, Room 3086 State Capitol, Room 3070
Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: SB 892 (solitary confinement)
Dear Senators de Le!n, Walters, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg, Gaines, and Hancock:
This letter is submitted on behalf of the undersigned organizations and individuals. The
California Families Against Solitary Confinement (CFASC) and the Center for Human Rights and
Constitutional Law (CHRCL), which represents approximately 450 California prisoners in solitary
confinement, as well as many other organizations, have previously communicated to Senator
Hancock deep concerns with certain provisions in S.B. 892 with suggested amendments. A redlined
version of the suggested changes is attached. We have been informed that our concerns will be
considered but to date have received no response indicating whether Senator Hancock will seek to
amend her bill to address these matters.
We are writing to explain exactly how harmful Senate Bill 892 in its present form will be to
California prisoners in solitary confinement, how costly implementation will be to the State, and
how if enacted the bill will codify for the first time in history the widely condemned and ill-
considered policy of placing prisoners in solitary confinement for many years who have engaged in
no serious wrong-doing whatsoever but are simply suspected of being in a gang. This policy has
been rejected by numerous States and the federal Government (with no adverse consequences and
substantial cost savings), and has been severely criticized by prison security experts, mental health
specialists, members of Congress, and groups including the American Bar Association, Amnesty
International, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. This unsound policy has
caused three costly hunger strikes by thousands of California prisoners in solitary confinement.
Enactment of the bill will lead to further hunger strikes, high costs, and drawn out litigation.
To be clear, we have no disagreement with the concept that certain prisoners who have
engaged in serious wrongdoing may be placed in some form of solitary confinement for defined
periods of time. Every state in the country and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons have adopted such
policies. What we oppose is codifying into California law a widely criticized and untested policy of
placing prisoners in solitary confinement for several years based upon mere alleged gang
membership when they have engaged in no serious wrongdoing.
Letter to CA State Senate Appropriations Committee
May 15, 2014
Page 2


To date the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has produced
no data showing that placing thousands of prisoners in solitary confinement based upon mere alleged
gang membership with no accompanying serious rule violations increases prison security. Indeed,
some sections of SB 892 would require CDCR to produce such data for review by the legislature and
we support these provisions. However, legislation on whether to codify the policy of placing
prisoners in solitary confinement for mere alleged gang membership is premature and should be
deferred until this data is collected and considered by the legislature, both from public policy and
fiscal standpoints.
Although SB 892 contains some positive provisions to which we dont object (for example
treatment of prisoners with mental illnesses and data collection), it includes critical provisions
codifying gang validation, moving California in the opposite direction of modern prison security
trends adopted in many other states and US Bureau of Prisons. The cost of implementation will run
into the tens of millions of dollars while (1) perpetuating the inhumane treatment of prisoners, (2)
severely compromising the goal of rehabilitation, (3) encouraging costly legal challenges that could
drag on for years, and (4) causing hundreds of validated prisoners to suffer severe physical and
mental disabilities with added costs of treatment.
We would endorse SB 892 if it prohibited the placement of prisoners in long-term solitary
confinement for mere alleged gang membership with no accompanying serious wrongdoing. This is
the approach taken in AB 1652 now before the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. While SB
892 proposes a step down program for validated prisoners which may result in released from
solitary confinement after several years, the program as proposed will be ineffective. CDCR already
follows an almost identical step-down program but only a small number of validated gang
members have been released from solitary through the program. Whether or not they are actually in
gangs, prisoners for obvious reasons refuse to disavow gang association in any way, shape or
form, a central part of CDCRs and SB 892s approach. In addition, the standards and procedures to
validate gang members are so discretionary and the factors relied upon (including other inmate
uncorroborated testimony) so broad as to result in a significant number of erroneous validation
determinations. Prisoners and prison reform experts likewise agree that the minimal efforts in SB
892 to improve the due process rights of validated prisoners will be costly while having little
practical effect on prisoners rights. Overall, SB 892 will leave California with the largest population
of prisoners in solitary confinement of any country in the world, or any state in the United States, at
enormous cost to the taxpayers.
Because of the high costs involved at a time when funds should be used to reduce over-
crowding, and the adverse consequences passage of SB 892 would have on prisoners, rehabilitation
and public safety, we respectfully request that the Senate Appropriations Committee not support SB
892 in its present form or reach agreement with Senator Hancock to amend the bill so it deletes
language codifying CDCRs unique and widely criticized gang validation policy and inserts
language prohibiting placement in solitary confinement unless a prisoner has engaged in serious
misconduct, extends its due process improvements to all prisoners in solitary confinement, and
requires independent corroboration of an inmates testimony if used to place a prisoner in solitary
confinement.
In the event you have any questions, we urge you to please contact Irene Huerta, California
Families Against Solitary Confinement, 310-562-1144, or Peter Schey, President, Center for Human
Letter to CA State Senate Appropriations Committee
May 15, 2014
Page 3


Rights and Constitutional Law, who is representing over 450 prisoners in solitary confinement, 323-
251-3223. Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Sign-ons to April 25 letter to Senator De Leon, to be confirmed for this letter:

California Families Against Solitary Confinement :
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights
Centro Legal de la Raza
Community Futures
Council on American-Islamic Relations - California (CAIR)
Families to Amend Californias Three Strikes (FACTS)
Hermandad Mexicana Humanitarian Foundation
Homeboy Industries
Homies Unidos
Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 13 (ILWU)
Justice Now
League of United Latin American Citizens
Mexican American Political Association (MAPA)
Students Against Mass Incarceration (UC)
William C. Velasquez Institute
Father Gregory Boyle, Executive Director, Homeboy Industries
Rabbi Joshua Brumbach, Ahavat Zion Synagogue, Beverly Hills, CA.
Dolores Canales (son incarcerated in Pelican Bay SHU)
Dennis R. Childs, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego
Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
(AFL-CIO)
Mike Farrell (Actor-Activist)
Mike Garcia, President, Service Employees International Union- United Service Workers West
(SEIU-West)
Irene Huerta (spouse incarcerated in Pelican Bay SHU)
James Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles Chapter
Sharon Martinas (prison reform advocate)
Sister Elisa Martinez, MSW
Heidi L. Rummel, Co-Director of Post-Conviction Justice Project (PCJP)
Kimberly Starr (prison reform advocate)
Sarah Torres (prison reform advocate)
Kimberly Rohrbach (prison reform advocate)
Beth Witrogen (life partner incarcerated in Pelican Bay SHU)