Prison reform is one of those issues that seems impossible to make progress on because prisoners and their basic human rights are all too often forgotten once the jail bars close.
In California, prisoners are now in the seventh week of a hunger strike to protest long-term solitary confinement. Long-term solitary confinement has been shown to damage the mental health of inmates and the strikers are pushing for an end to this practice that many consider inhumane.
All too often women who report sexual violence are put in solitary for their own “protection,” especially when they accuse a prison guard of rape or sexual harassment. Solitary confinement is also used to protect the general prison population from those deemed dangerous, including gang-affiliated prisoners and inmates suffering from some mental illnesses.
This lone solution to a slew of distinct problems means that not only are the core issues impacting prisoners not being addressed properly, but also often times the humanity of the inmates is lost as the days in solitary drag on.
This week a California judge approved force feeding the 70 or so inmates still refusing prison meals in protest. The California hunger strike began with nearly 30,000 inmates and now with the judges ruling, these inmates are permitted to be fed against their will, essentially ending the peaceful protest. Legally a prison may allow an inmate to starve themselves to death, as long as they sign a do-not-resuscitate request. The judge’s order would include those inmates who signed legally binding DNRs and any inmate who is too ill to be able to articulate his wishes can be given food and nourishment even when they are part of the hunger strike. By not allowing the inmates to protest their inhumane treatment peacefully, the criminal justice system seems to be stripping their last remnants of dignity and free will.
Oftentimes it’s not only the inmates themselves who must deal with less than ideal conditions. Family members were for many years also harmed by the long-term imprisonment of their loved ones, not only because of their physical absence, but the additional costs of traveling long distances to visit and the high costs of reaching their family members via telephone. For many years, families and prisoners rights groups fought for the Federal Communications Commission to cap the amount a phone company could charge a family member for taking a collect call from an inmate.
This week after a long, 10-year battle and emotional testimony by families, the FCC voted 2-1 to cap these interstate phone rates. The cap will be 21 cents per minute for calls made with prepaid cards and 25 cents per minute for collect calls.
The fight for basic human rights for prisoners and their family members is sadly not one that receives enough media attention as some in society view anyone in prison as a criminal whose rights are secondary to the society at large. This creates a scenario where inhumane treatment goes ignored, when even straightforward problems become intractable. Putting prisoners in solitary confinement for long stretches is a problem that would easily be resolved if prisons ceased the practice as a response to conflict inside of the prison.
The fight for prisoners’ rights and the rights of their loved ones is is an uphill battle with little chance of public pressure to help the pendulum swing back in favor of humane treatment of anyone, regardless of whether they are in prison or have a relative in prison.
Follow Zerlina Maxwell on Twitter at @ZerlinaMaxwell.