AR Segregation conditions: another name for SHU

I want to say thank you on behalf of myself and others for the newspapers. We are all in Ad-Seg in 8'x10' cells, and our conditions are similar to those of SHU prisoners. We get only one or two hours of out-of-cell exercise per week, weather permitting, and assuming the guards feel like letting us out. Even though Federal law states we are entitled to this time out of our cells, the staff regularly try to justify denying us yard call by claiming to be short-handed. During the summer we have yard call two or three times per week, but with winter here, they don't want to give us our exercise.

I know it is cruel and unusual punishment for the guards to maliciously or deliberately violate our rights. Here in the Max, we have written grievances about this issue but nothing gets done. A lot of times the grievances "mysteriously" get lost. Usually, if the authorities here notice that a prisoner is intelligent about policy and does not make waves, they will leave him alone. But I've learned that if you really mess with the administration by complaining or filing grievances, they will retaliate. I've seen them hold people's mail an extra week or more, or shake cells down and write up infractions for small items.

We don't get paid for any labor, only $6 at Christmas time, and the only way to get out of the Max unit is to go flat or parole.

-- an Arkansas prisoner.