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by Kijana Tashiri Askari, Yafeu Iyapo and Kamau Askari for the W.L. Nolen Mentorship Program
Now picture this: a human being entombed in his or her bathroom 22½ hours out of the day for 10 to 40-plus years straight with absolutely no environmental stimulation or social contact with another human being. Every type of communication is considered gang-related, thus relegating you to incommunicado status. If fortunate, the only form of entertainment is a combination of 10 books, newspapers or magazines and a 13-inch TV via eight heavily censored TV stations which don’t include the two corporatized radio stations and four state-based Christian faith channels. Now ask yourself, could you survive under this fascist arrangement for the amount of time that we have without your soul being violated?
CDCR has taken the position that there is nothing wrong with these dehumanizing living conditions. But we’re curious to know what do the people think about this? And would the people be willing – in particular, those who still do not believe that solitary confinement amounts to torture – to video-record themselves with an iphone and lock themselves up in their bathroom for at least a week with the limited amount of essentials as identified herein and post the video on the internet so that the moral conscience of the world communities can be the judge on this contradiction?
Now put yourself in the shoes of Evan Evel, a Colorado prisoner who was paroled from their state-based torture chambers (solitary confinement units) in March 2013 and then went on a killing spree in the state of Colorado and on into the state of Texas that subsequently ended with him being murdered in a shoot-out with the police. The corporate media has portrayed the ordeal as a violent gang member who went mad crazy and just started killing people in spite of there being no evidence that his actions were gang-related.
My people, the Evan Evel situation should serve as a clear warning sign that the phenomenon of Amerikkka’s usage of solitary confinement units constitutes a public health crisis, with similar instances potentially occurring in the near future. The media failed to inform the public that Evan Evel had been confined in Colorado’s solitary confinement units prior to being paroled and that several scientific studies have proven that “social isolation” (solitary confinement) is known to cause trauma (torture) to the human being. Thus it would be inconceivable for us to believe that the living conditions of this “socially deprived” individual didn’t play a role in his transgressions.
This is why we prisoners in California initiated two peaceful hunger strikes in 2011 in protest of the torturous and inhumane conditions of solitary confinement as it is essentially about saving and protecting the health of our communities!
Hence, we’re asking the people to 1) help give us a vote by exposing Amerikkka’s secret domestic torture practices and policies via the widespread use of solitary confinement units throughout the country; 2) make an effort to write to and support a prisoner in solitary confinement in order to help neutralize his or her social isolation (torture); 3) make an effort to send a prisoner some reading materials to keep his or her mind occupied with positive thoughts thus minimizing the trauma (torture) to the brain. The internet is filled with websites that provide free self-help information and materials that can be sent to prisoners.
These three things will go a long way towards initiating the process of protecting the health of our communities by restoring and redeeming the human value of prisoners held in solitary confinement units who are an extension of every community in Amerikkka!
All power to the people!
The mission statement of the W.L. Nolen Mentorship Program was published by the Bay View in March: “The W.L. Nolen Mentorship Program.”
Send our brothers some love and light:
- Kijana Tashiri Askari (s/n Marcus Harrison), H-54077, PBSP, D3-122-SHU, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Yafeu Iyapo (s/n Leonard Alexander), B-72288, PBSP, D3-118-SHU, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
- Kamau Askari (s/n Ralph Taylor), D-03780, PBSP, D3-102-SHU, P.O. Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
