Pelican Bay State Prison opened in December,1989 to house Level 4 maximum security inmates in general population and, those men it deemed the most dangerous criminals in a separate building on the same site, known as the Security Housing Unit -- SHU. According to it's website, Pelican Bay State Prison has an annual operating budget of $115 million and employs over 1400 custodial/support staff. The SHU houses approximately 1500 men. Prison officials describe it as a “modern design” in total isolation. If you cannot imagine what it must feel like to live in a 6' by 9' cell, with NO human contact, read the following. You will understand why human rights organizations are so concerned. A Day in The Life at the SHU By Gabriel Reyes SHU: Security Housing Unit a Living tomb What Is It? a 6x9-foot cell, a prison within a prison a prisoner’s surroundings at least 22 hours a day sensory deprivation, no sunlight, no fresh air, no training or educational activities, and no phone access very little human contact, not even with guards around-the-clock electronic surveillance occasional release to an indoor exercise pen that is barely larger than the “residence” strip searches and shackles whenever leaving the cell routine gratuitous and racist beatings and abuse total neglect of psychological, medical and spiritual needs living hundreds of miles away so that it’s a hardship for family members to visit Who Gets Sent There? prisoners, mostly Latino and black (85% people of color) whom the CDC(California Department of Corrections) pulls from its 32 other prisons for: being in a gang (as evidenced by anonymous snitch notes, group photos, tattoos, innocent letters from home, possessing art or literature construed as “gang-related”) assisting other prisoners in legal work refusing to surrender their personal identities or collaborate with their jailers being a prisoner of conscience signing a birthday or get-well card for another prisoner writing to another prisoner’s family repeatedly violating minor rules being affiliated with political or other groups on the outside prisoners who are mentally ill or disturbed anyone who needs a cell when the prison is full. NOTE 1: Criminals convicted of heinous crimes are never sent to the SHU, but are put in protective custody elsewhere. NOTE 2: The U.S. now imprisons half a million more people than China, a country with four times the U.S.’s population. NOTE 3: The U.S. imprisons more black people than did South Africa before Nelson Mandela was president. How Long Are They There? sometimes for years; sometimes for life often for indeterminate periods of time How Do They Get Out? via “debriefing” or by becoming informants by being free from “gang activity” for six years by dying occasionally through parole Are SHU's Legal? Pelican Bay has been the subject of many lawsuits won by prisoners, but little has changed. In 1995 a federal court found conditions at Pelican Bay SHU to be unconstitutional. Amnesty International claims that supermax (or SHU) facilities violate international standards for the humane treament of prisoners and exceed what is necessary for security purposes. Both the UN Human Rights committee and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture have expressed concern about SHU conditions. What Is The Costs to the Taxpayer? $5 billion a year (that’s $5,000,000,000) to run the California Department of Corrections $50 million a year ($50,000,000) to run Pelican Bay Prison Sensory deprived and psychologically damaged citizens with no vocational training and who have lived for months or years with little human contact are dumped back onto our streets with no means to cope or survive.