IMU

The “Vicious Cycles” Created by Solitary Confinement

February 24, 2013 By Sal Rodriguez 1 Comment

Intensive Management Unit in Washington State Correctional Center

In 1993, Dr. Stuart Grassian, following extensive interviews with men in California’s Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit (SHU), reported that extensive periods in solitary confinement lead to what he referred to as a “syndrome” particular to prison isolation units. Anxiety, ruminations, panic attacks, aggression, paranoia, and psychotic symptoms were observed as a consequence of prolonged solitary confinement. Prisoners already presenting problems with impulsivity, aggression, and other problematic mental health and behavioral problems may become far more aggravated in solitary confinement. This contributes to what Dr. Craig Haney has referred to as a vicious cycle in which emotionally troubled individuals placed in solitary become more aggravated and cause more problems, leading to longer or repeated terms in solitary confinement, and thus creates more negative behaviors in the process.

Unsurprisngly, it has also been well-established that inmates in solitary confinement have higher recidivism rates upon release from incarceration. An August 2012 report commissioned by the American Friends Service Committee found that prisoners released from Arizona supermax custody are emotionally and mentally harmed by the experience of solitary. Further, the report found that supermax inmates are inadequately prepared for release, as they are prohibited from educational and vocational opportunities and are limited in visitation during their incarceration, which contribute to inmates being “deeply traumatized and essentially socially disabled.”

Presented here are profiles of two prisoners, in Washington and Utah, who have written to Solitary Watch about their experiences in isolation. Both report extended periods in solitary confinement, which they report has had the effect of increasing their hostility against authority and leading to increased feelings of anxiety, respectively. They report receiving no constructive, rehabilitative programming, which they argue only contributes to escalating problems as they neither learn to “become productive” and are left at “rock bottom.”

As Washington State Prisons Begin Reforms, 800 Remain in Solitary Confinement

January 16, 2013 By Sal Rodriguez 4 Comments

IMU at Stafford Creek Correctional Center, Credit: TONY OVERMAN

On January 7th, the Seattle Times reported that “Washington’s prisons are at the forefront of a new approach to solitary confinement, finding that a new focus on rehabilitation may calm some inmates’ behavior in prison and prevent violence once they are back on the street.” The article reports:

[Washingon] began reconsidering solitary after violent clashes in IMU units at Shelton in the mid-1990s. About 400 of the state’s 17,500 inmates are in such units, which also house death-row prisoners and those in protective custody.

University of Washington professor David Lovell studied solitary confinement in the state under a DOC contract, and found the isolated inmates were most often gang members serving long sentences for violent crimes. Up to 45 percent were mentally ill or had traumatic brain injuries.

And once in solitary, they stayed in — for nearly a year, on average — because prison staff were reluctant to send likely violent inmates back into the general population.

Those who were released often returned, after committing new assaults on corrections officers or other inmates.

Most disturbing, Lovell found a quarter of inmates were released to the streets directly from solitary confinement. Unaccustomed to human contact, they were more prone to quickly commit new violence.

Life in the IMU, or Intensive Management Unit, has been described by one man in a letter to Solitary Watch:

You are not allowed meaningful recreation, just an hour of exercise an empty 15 x 12 cell, no church attendance, real library service or educational programming. All of your personal possessions are denied to you. You will remain in your 7×12 cell for 23 of every 24 hours five days a week. Two days a week you will not come out of your cell at all. You will eat all of your meals within a few feet of your toilet. You will be in handcuffs each and every time your cell door is opened for any reason.

The Seattle Times reports that Clallam Bay Corrections Center’s Intensive Transition Program (ITP) is a four-step, nine-month long process with gradually increasing privileges. Inmates participating in the program are allowed time out of their cells for coursework (while chained to desks) and the gym. As of last week, there were thirty participants in the program.

There are, however, some questions and information missing from the story. Using the Seattle Times numbers, Washington DOC holds approximately 400 inmates in solitary confinement out of 17,500 (or, 2.7%). A July 2012 News Tribune article even concluded that this figure indicates that “Isolating prisoners less common in Washington than most places.” This is slightly less than the 3-5% of inmates the average state prison system has in solitary confinement.

However, the 400 figure only counts inmates in Intensive Management Units. According to Chad Lewis from the Washington Department of Corrections: “Today we have approximately 430 offenders on Administrative Segregation Status. This includes offenders at all custody classification levels. The reasons for placement/retention include: Pending investigation, Pre-hearing confinement, Disciplinary Sanctions, Pending transfer. Administrative Segregation is a short term assessment process, used to identify the appropriate housing assignment for the offender. Typical length of stay is less than 47 days, exceptions require approval at the Headquarters level.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under: media, solitary confinement, supermax prisons, Washington Tagged With: IMU, media, Reform, solitary confinement, supermax, Washington

“Total Isolation”: Solitary Confinement in Oregon

September 11, 2012 By Sal Rodriguez 23 Comments

David “Joey” Pedersen was arrested in 1997 for armed robbery. He was 16 years old, had been taking the antidepressant Zoloft for years (which he continued to take throughout his incarceration), and was determined to have a “slight” potential for violence. Due to Oregon’s Measure 11, he was charged as an adult. Pedersen joined prison gangs and received dozens of disciplinary write-ups. As a consequence, he would spend 11 of the next 14 years in solitary confinement. Much of that time was spent in Oregon’s Intensive Management Units (IMUs).

Pedersen was paroled in May 2011. Months later, he and a girlfriend would go on a murder spree, killing four people.

“I knew Pedersen personally. I know all too well the horrors he went through in prison as a juvenile up until his release and how isolation in ‘supermax’ slowly changed him until there was so much pent up inside he turned into a person who would kill four innocent people within months of release from Oregon’s IMU,” writes M.O., an Oregon inmate who has spent over 18 years in prison, over 16 of which have been spend in solitary confinement.

“Corrections officials,” M.O. writes, “are unwilling to consider other alternatives to meet their legitimate concerns. In the case of Pedersen, ‘supermax’ produced exactly what it has been designed to create.’”

Oregon has a prison population of 14,109 as of June 1, 2012. Of them, approximately 390 are classified as Security Level 5. Inmates in Security Level 5 are held in one of several solitary confinement units in the Oregon prison system. The units have a variety of names: Intensive Management Units, Administrative Segregation, and Behavioral Health Units for inmates with mental health issues. There are also Disciplinary Segregation Units, which are generally used for shorter terms in solitary. [Read more...]

Filed Under: featured posts, mental illness, Oregon, physical effects, psychological effects, solitary confinement, supermax prisons Tagged With: IMU, Intensive Management Units, Snake River Correctional Institution, solitary confinement, supermax

Voices from Solitary: Washington Cell Extraction

July 5, 2012 By Voices from Solitary Leave a Comment

The following was sent to Solitary Watch from an inmate in Washington. He describes a recent “cell extraction”–the forcible removal of a prisoner from his cell–which he witnessed in a solitary confinement ”Intensive Management Unit.” He discusses the use of cell extractions in relation to the claim by corrections officials that such actions are necessary for the safety of inmates. Readers of this may be reminded of the story of the Dallas 6, who were also subject to brutal cell extractions for protesting by covering their cell windows. –Sal Rodriguez

During this recent stay I witnessed, (as well as became collateral damage of) a typical IMU practice of “cell-extraction”, the forcible removal of an inmate from his cell. This is always an abusive overkill practice: At least five officers, (including women) in full SWAT riot gear and armed with pepper spray and often shock shields, storming a cell and pepper spraying, beating, electrocuting, stripping and then dragging the inmate off to a cold empty cell for 72 hours without clothing, mattress, or blanket.

The rarely asked question is: why do you ever need to do a cell extraction on an IMU housed inmate? First off, he is already in a cell which only contains the barest of necessities of existence: bedding, a rubber (flex) writing pen, paper and a couple of books; the water for sinks and toilets can be turned off from the outside.

The most common excuse used to frequently abuse men in this way is that the inmate covered their window–”Staff needs to be able to make sure that the inmate is O.K.”

The incident itself was as follows: The guy two cells away from me had full medium custody before being placed in segregation. The infraction that sent him to seg was a 5-point violation. This means that, if found guilt of this major rule violation, he would lose five of his accumulated custody level points. It takes the loss of ten custody points before you can be demoted in your custody level, and unless the infraction involved armed or gang activity violence, you can only be demoted in one custody level at a time. So this guy goes to his hearing and gets told that he is being demoted from full minimum to closed custody; a demotion of three custody levels. After speaking to the unit counselor, unit Sgt. and unit supervisor, and even though he didn’t qualify to be demoted, each one stated they “couldn’t/wouldn’t” do anything about what the hearings officer was recommending. [Read more...]

Filed Under: solitary confinement, supermax prisons, Voices from Solitary, Washington Tagged With: cel extraction, IMU, Intensive Management Unit, solitary confinement, Washington

Oregon Converts Supermax Unit to Treat Prisoners With Mental Illness

June 4, 2010 By Jean Casella and James Ridgeway 3 Comments

A reader recently called our attention to an article that appeared back in April in the Salem (Oregon) Statesman Journal, titled “Oregon State Penitentiary Adapts to Mental Illness.” According to the Oregon Department of Corrections, about half of the state’s 14,000 prisoners— 6,797—are mentally ill. This is ten times greater than the population of the state’s primary psychiatric hospital, the 627-bed Oregon State Hospital in Salem–which happens to be located just north of the Oregon State Penitentiary (OSP) in Salem, the state’s only maximum security prison.

Now, the Department of Corrections has announced plans to convert the OSP’s “supermax” unit, which is officially called the “Intensive Management Unit,” will be converted into what the Statesman Journal calls ”three therapy-minded units.”

For two decades, the IMU has operated as a tightly controlled compound within the now-2,000-inmate prison. It corrals belligerent and disruptive inmates–some mentally ill–in their cells for more than 23 hours per day.

By the end of this year, the two-story IMU facility will get a facelift to soften its austere environment, and will begin serving a therapeutic role….Mental health services are planned for three of the four units in the IMU building:

• A 49-bed mental health infirmary will provide “crisis stabilizing” treatment for acutely mentally ill offenders, including inmates who attempt suicide or commit other acts of self-harm.

• A 65-bed day-treatment unit will provide mental health services for inmates coming out of the crisis-care unit. The so-called “step down” program also will provide preventative mental health services for inmates, designed to help them cope with their illnesses and avoid crises.

• A 73-bed behavioral unit will provide specialized services and supervision for disruptive mentally ill inmates who otherwise might end up in isolation cells.

The plan is far from perfect: Creating 187 new places in a system with 7,000 prisoner suffer from mental illness is a drop in the bucket, and it’s too soon to say how effective the mental health units will be. (In addition, the renovation calls for Oregon’s death row to occupy one part of the former IMU.) But any provision for prisoners with mental illness–especially one that replaces solitary confinement cells–has to be viewed as progress.

The article provides a brief (and all too typical) history of how mentally ill prisoners have fared in Oregon’s prisons. Its author, Alan Gustafson, investigated prison suicides–most of which took place in the IMU–back in 2007; his extensive reporting on that subject is well worth reading as well.