Pelican Bay State Prison

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Aerial view of Pelican Bay State Prison.

The Pelican Bay State Prison is a state prison in the US state of California . The prison is located in the northwest of the state in the parish of the city of Crescent City in Del Norte County on approximately 1.1 km². Pelican Bay is often referred to as the Supermax Detention Center because some of the state's most dangerous inmates are housed in the prison's specially secured section. The correctional facility is operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation , the law enforcement agency for the state of California.

Conception

In 1989, Pelican Bay Penitentiary was opened to accommodate the growing number of high-risk incarcerated in California. The prison was built in a wooded area about 11 miles from the border of the two states of California and Oregon and intentionally far from the state's urban centers. Originally Pelican Bay was built to accommodate 2550 inmates, but in 2006 there were more than 3,300 inmates in the prison, almost all of them classified as "Level IV" inmates and thus as high-risk inmates.

The institution is basically divided into two parts. On one side is that part of the detention center in which normal inmates with a high-risk background are housed. These prisoners are also entitled to a daily walk in the yard and exercise in the prison yard. In addition, there is the better known part of the prison, the so-called "Secure Housing Unit" (SHU), a high-security isolation department . This department is housed in the characteristic X-shaped, white part of the building, in which there are only single cells and which is additionally secured with an electric fence. Those inmates who are known to be particularly violent and who are suspected of having a gang background are accommodated here. SHU inmates spend 22.5 hours a day in their cells and are individually led into a small inner courtyard of the institution for one hour a day to exercise. There is also a psychiatric section of the SHU, in which prisoners with mental health problems can be accommodated.

Criticism and special incidents

Assaults by inmates on other inmates and prison staff are commonplace in Pelican Bay. Ganging, in particular, is a major problem within the prison. As in many other US penal institutions, there are large and well-known gangs in Pelican Bay, such as the Mexican Mafia , Nuestra Familia , Black Guerrilla Family and the Aryan Brotherhood .

In addition, there is always massive criticism of the accommodation in the SHU. The so-called "SHU syndrome" that occurs frequently is comparable to the post-traumatic stress syndrome .

Vaughn Dortch case

In April 1992, mentally disturbed inmate Vaughn Dortch, who was in the psychiatric section of the SHU, was ordered to take a bath after smearing feces on himself. When he refused, he was pushed by force of several guards in a basin of hot water, scalding 3rd degree had in his lower body regions result. In the ensuing trial, the detainee was awarded US $ 997,000 in pain and suffering for “inhuman or cruel and degrading treatment” .

Madrid v. Gomez

In this huge court hearing, which concerned the "cruel or inhuman treatment" of around 3,600 inmates in 1993, the responsible federal judge ruled that mentally disturbed inmates should no longer be segregated in the normal SHU. In response, the psychiatric section of the SHU was set up. He also ordered an additional officer to ensure compliance with this policy.

Riots

On February 23, 2000, an argument broke out between around 200 prisoners in the regular section of the prison, in which the prisoners attacked each other and the guards. Live ammunition was subsequently used by the guards, killing one prisoner and injuring 15 others. After about 30 minutes, the situation was brought back under control. 19 prisoners were injured by stabs or blows during the uprising, and more than 90 weapons were subsequently confiscated.

Trivia

In the television series Life , the lead actor Charlie Crews is innocent in Pelican Bay for 12 years for a murder. When the prison opened in 1989, a criminal friend of the punk rock band NOFX was arrested there for various serious crimes such as multiple rape. In their autobiography Die Hepatitis-Bathtub and other stories , published in German in February 2017 , the band members report on their criminal friend by calling him with the changed first name "Raymond" in order to protect his true identity.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Former Inmate at Pelican Bay Wins Judgment Against State". Article in The San Francisco Chronicle, March 1, 1994.
  2. ↑ Guards Kill Prisoner In Brawl at Pelican Bay . Article in The San Francisco Chronicle on February 24, 2000.
  3. ↑ NOFX : The hepatitis bathtub and other stories . Autobiography of the punk rock band NOFX written with co-author Jeff Alulis, Verlag Edel (Optimal Media GmbH), Röbel / Müritz , 1st edition, February 2017. pp. 89 + 85 ff.

Coordinates: 41 ° 51 ′ 18 ″  N , 124 ° 9 ′ 0 ″  W.