Torture in SHU causes mental illness

Torture in SHU causes mental illness

Prisoners are subject to an extraction fire extinguishers full of O.C. pepper spray, sprayed into the small 8 by 10 cell through a slot in the door. After spraying two and sometimes up to five of those huge canisters, five to seven staff members get attired in helmets, padding for knees and elbows and thick gloves and the door is opened and they charge in with a shield commence to twist your arms, legs, hands and ankles and to put virtually all they're bodies on top of you.

Afterwards you are rinsed off with water and then placed back into the cell or a management cell with no bunk, no shelves, and sometimes no toilet. You are given no linens, not even clothes to put on for 72 hours. Your body burns all over from the pepper spray. To go to sleep you ball up in a fetal position or simply spend the nights pacing the floor. The cells are often filthy so when you sit down you risk contaminating your rectum.

Men who receive this treatment over long durations become disturbed. Blood sport fights have been staged and some have been shot by guards upon being involved or defending themselves. If one is ever accused of attempting to pull away in the handcuffs while being un-cuffed you get put on triangle restriction. Then a huge triangle bar is attached to the handcuffs and if you pull forward they pull you back with such force sometimes to jerk and break your arms or seriously dislocate them.

They have these metal/iron mesh cages that resemble small booths and you can be left standing in them for hours. In these SHU chambers you get showers every two days. They are only five minutes and then water can be turned off. For recreation you are sent to 8 by 10 mesh cages year round for 10 hours a week. No additional clothing is provided for the cold months. You go out even when it rains in just boxers, socks and t-shirts.

On an average torturous day you are subjected to Reduced Environmental Stimulus (R.E.S.) and sensory deprivation cutting off (sight, sound, sense, smell, and taste). Your bed area in the SHU unit is composed of concrete slabs, you are provided a thin mattress and sometimes it is cut into three sections. There are no windows and when there are they are painted shut. On the inside there are no mirrors so you're denied a look at your own image. At meal times you get just enough food for a bowel movement. Food is always cold.

You can be subject to taser shocks and hog tying when being extracted. I've also observed concussion grenades being used. Upon leaving the cell you are subjected to incessant cavity searches, every time you leave. There are constant loud noises from slamming tray ports and flushing toilets which are idled high and noises from P.A. system. During the night you have count checks where a flash light is shined right in your face, periodically every 2 hours.

Upon being subject to this year in and year out, some get put on medication which causes them to sleep all day just after breakfast until dinner. One has anxiety attacks, gets paranoid, asocial, and some sexually sick. The treatment I've described causes torturous shattering of men's and women's and even children's minds. Those who don't believe torture is happening in America just as in Iraq are naively and sadly misinformed.

-- a California prisoner at Corcoran, July 2004