Repression in Soledad

I'm in Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) [in Soledad] "new" ad-seg building, and if you haven't heard yet, it's the Department of Corrections latest attempt to further dehumanize the prisoners. The space is illegally too small for the two men they cram together. The urinal is literally less than 3 feet away from the bottom bunk facing you. The 4 foot by 4 inch window at the top of the roof barely provides anything more than decoration. Sometimes when they find they are bored we'll be allowed yard time, where you and your cellmate are put in a dog-like cage with a sink and toilet. I just got here but I'll be here, maybe till November. Things are getting worse every day.

I am writing to let you know that the book you have sent to me called "Bury my heart at wounded knee" is here at the institution. I have not been able to retrieve the book because of a state of emergency lock down which we have been placed on. A correctional officer was seriously injured by an inmate with a weapon on a totally different facility, but yet those that are housed on other yards and facilities are subjected to the same oppressive treatment and lockdown as those on the facility where the incident actually occurred.

Here are some of the conditions in which we suffer at the present time. 1. We have been locked in our cells since June 23 of this year. 2. We have not been given an hour a day of exercise yard or had any fresh air or exposure to the sun since June 23. 3. We are being cell fed very small portions of half cooked food. 4. The administration is using the state budget as an excuse for not providing the staff to run any programs, that includes shower programs, yard programs, education and vocational programs, etc.

The administration and institutional staff are ignoring the fact that most of the inmates in SVSP need a trade in order to be considered for a parole date. We are not being provided with the opportunity to accomplish a trade or a GED.

Salinas Valley State prison is quite oppressive, and its agenda is industrial rather than rehabilitating.

-- another SVSP prisoner, August 2003

I am a California state prisoner housed in the illegal custody of Warden Tony A. Lamarque here in solitary confinement administrative segregation on non-disciplinary charges since December 2002. I was removed from the general population out of retaliation for challenging an illegal operational procedure. OP #23 requires inmates to snitch on each other. I refused to attend the illegal questioning of a crime in which I had no involvement.

This is the justification the prison officials used to lock me down in the Administrative Segregation unit (ASU)... They claim that because I refused to cooperate with the interview process they were concerned that I may be promoting violence against staff.

The prison officials and the director's of corrections refer to an old incident from September 1999 when I committed a battery offense against a Lieutenant and since he was assigned to work in the program area of the facility, that's the reason I was removed from the general population.

The day I was to be placed in ad seg Correctional Lt Muniz informed me that I was going to receive an administrative review by Glenn Ponder who was now a captain. Ponder was a LT at the time when I was charged with a batter offense against him in 1999. I explained to Lt Muniz that I did not want G. Ponder to conduct the review, I alleged it was a conflict of interest among me and him. This Lt. Muniz was aware of the prior battery offense because both of them worked together in administrative segregation at that time and I believe both of them conspired against me to lock me up, but they did not play their cards right. I saw through their weak tactic and now other administrative officials are caught up in their misconduct.

I assert they have lied, conspired, and are illegally holding me in ad-seg going on 9 months. I am up for transfer but they said my transfer is on hold pending resolution of court proceedings in Monterey County Superior Court. I have no court cases pending at all, nor is it anything mentioned on my classification choronos stating anything about a court case pending. The warden and those he supervises intentionally deprived me of my constitutional rights while in state custody.

I have a right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, right to due process of law, and to be free from undo harassment and ongoing retaliatory attacks while in Salinas Valley State Prison.

--a third SVSP prisoner, August 2003