As you can
see on the “Reporting S.T.G. involvement” segment of the “Step Down Program” in
the official CDCR press release ( see illustration below, marked with our *, page 4), CDCR has
codified an expectation that one becomes a “confidential informant,”
qualitatively no different than debriefing. They state in clear language that
prisoners “have the responsibility to report S.T.G. or criminal activity when known or observed
by you.”
This is informing,
snitching, ratting and will result in someone else being subjected to years of
torture. They go on to state:
“This
process is not intended to compromise your safety, but to enhance your safety
through the identification and removal of those involved in S.T.G. or criminal
activities.”
This is an
intentional lie. By CDCR’s own admission, one of the primary reasons they have
maintained these torture units and created ‘sensitive needs yards’ is that such
informing will incur violent retaliation against suspected informants. Their
inclusion of this provision has a more insidious purpose related to their Schenerian
behavior modification program, but for purposes of this discussion we’ll stick
to the 8th Amendment violation inherent in this action by the state.
In Griffinv. Gomez, the U.S. Northern District Court held,
“The crushing conditions of the SHU present an overwhelming incentive for an inmate to risk debriefing… (and) [CDCR’s] refusal to reconsider the classification of former gang members who are unwilling to risk retaliation (for informing) renders their segregation effectively permanent (Docket no. 120, at 8). It is this mutual reinforcement that extended (prisoners) stay in the SHU for over 20 years… Further confinement is tantamount to indefinite administrative segregation for silence – an intolerable practice in modern society.”
The court
accordingly found this compulsory requirement to inform violates the 8th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, yet here we see CDCR not only expanding it
outside the confines of the debriefing process, but codifying it as an
expectation for inclusion in the S.D.P., something no principled man or
woman currently consigned to these torture units will submit to under any
circumstance, and CDCR is fully aware of this fact. They are fully aware that
it ciolates established law. They are fully aware that it violates the U.N.
Treaty against Torture and other cruel and degrading treatment… They just don’t
care. They are counting on the disinterest and political apathy of you
– the
people – to turn a blind eye to their maintenance if these torture units
in your name, with your tax dollars. The only question facing us as a society
is: will you? Only you can answer that question.
Our
solidarity always – N.C.T.T.-Cor-SHU
NCTTCorSHU.org
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| "Reporting STG involvement" |
