Shattering the Glass Towers inside the SHU/SMU

Recent attention to the hunger strike inside the California prison system has brought a focus on solitary confinement units such as the Security Housing Unit (SHU) located in the Pelican Bay prison complex. Advocates pro and con to solitary confinement express their idealistic points of view regarding the use of such units as hundreds prisoners inside these concrete bunkers are resisting the food served to them complaining that the portions are unacceptable and the nutritional value inadequate for them as well as several other notable objections to the way the units are being operated. Advocates are using this experience as a talking point to demonstrate their opinions on solitary confinement while those correctional officials that manage such units are defending in place their current practices and operational methods.

The SHU/SMU, a very complicated and intense unit requires special attention and careful decision making in the operation of such a special management unit (SMU). There are many factors considered by officials in order to manage this minority group of prisoners who have demonstrated extreme prejudice in the nature of violence, extortion and other illegal acts while incarcerated. The first and foremost reason for the existence for a SHU or SMU is the ability to segregate administratively those individuals inside prisons that breed contempt and compliance with institutional rules and regulations. The fact is there are hundreds of individuals who preach violence towards the correctional officers and those of a different race or gang. Their logic is beyond natural made laws and illustrates a severe indifference to human life and the right to co-exist. These predators must be identified and isolated for reasons of maintaining an orderly prison system that can’t sustain excessive organized violence or other gang like activities that prey on the weaker and non-gang prisoners who are exposed to these dangers and perils.

A SHU or SMU is a special designed unit of facility that is designed for one purpose and one purpose only, containment. This rationale was developed to segregate those who could not or would not function orderly within a general population setting and where their presence created disorder through covert acts of violence and other predatory acts. The amount of steel, rebar, concrete and effort that goes into the construction of such a unit is expensive and designed to prevent escapes, avoid coincidental contact with others, restrict living conditions and confinement of the body within a predesigned concrete box called a cell to avoid contact with the outside world and its elements. Within a SHU/SMU or SMU, there are specialized units that are designed for specific purposes and rarely identified through the public eye or media. These specialized units are designed for ultimate physical control and containment for those who have previous history of homicide, escape or other acts of misconduct related to extortion, manufacturing of weapons, drug smuggling, inciting riots or acts that create chaos within a prison setting. There are many names or labels for those specialized inner control units that resemble such titles as the Behavioral Management Unit, the Enhanced Security Unit or Violent Control Unit, these units are staffed by individuals trained in the intricate functions of cell extractions and other use of force techniques that ultimately seeks compliance to an uncooperative prisoner.
Like many other prisons throughout the United States, mission creep is a dangerous element of such places. Through time, cultures develop and inconsistencies due to internal power struggles create sub-cultures that are difficult to understand and even harder to break. The mentality between the prisoner and the officer is one of “us versus them” with no wiggle room to negotiate a settlement or compromise. Management is expected to be by objectives but is much more driven by subjective commands or directives. This creates animosities and biases between the two groups that are often irreparable and create the type of physical conflict that often results in the use of force. In addition, this slanted type of management style leaves much to be left blank when orders are given as tacit approval to “do what you need to do to fix it” are common and leaving the power and control to subordinates who have a personal stake in the outcome. Although not condoning such a practice, the fact remains that many administrators allow their officers to run with this attitude to take care of business.

The peril of such inconsistencies results in chaos, violence and abuse within a controlled setting that is rarely revealed to anyone else in the unit as a code of silence allows the practice to exist without external resistance. Barring a whistleblower or investigative leak, this dark culture of staff, forming a solid team to oppose those incarcerated and resistive to the command, sees these uses of forces as opportunities to show and demonstrate their control over the environment. The prisoners often motivated to show they are still capable of being strong and independent will use this opportunity to demonstrate their gladiator skills to combat the officers in a brief contest of draconic warfare between humans and their ability to fight each other. This primitive style of combat has existed for centuries and is all about controlling the environment and showing other prisoners that in order to survive, one must be willing to stand up and defend in place your being and respect against those forces identified to be your nemesis by tradition and cultural definitions.

The shattering of the glass towers will reveal the intricate inside workings and dynamics that exists within these specialized units. It will expose the violence and vile conditions that survive without the knowledge of many and the memories of the small number of individuals who works or lived there and take an opportunity to express their own experiences or horrors of the events as they occurred inside those concrete masses. For many years of secrecy and stillness will soon be exposed to the world as those involved in this hunger strike express to those willing to listen all their private personal experiences and misfortunes during their stay inside this concrete jungle. The world, in return, must maintain a balanced view of the stories told and remember that inside this mass of concrete and steel, life hinges delicately on the ability to maintain control in a most unrestrained environment that pits man against man and creates a struggle nobody really understands unless they lived through the ordeal and calculated the risks and occasions to survive.

The recommendation to eliminate these SHU/SMU units is unacceptable. The SHU/SMU serves a specialized purpose that should remain in existence to manage those criminally minded incorrigibles that openly and covertly flaunt their anarchism to the administration and society. However, recommendations to implement better administrative tools to manage time spent inside a SHU/SMU to defend such a placement can be better done with specific management tools that allow flexibility in housing assignments, custody levels and durations of placements through a due process that is fair and equitable to those who operate these units and provide the prisoner incentives to work their way out of these lockdown units through positive behaviors rather than felonious misconduct that threatens the safety of others and staff. The administration should take into account the negativity of placing a human being inside these cement control boxes and understand the change in their psyche when isolated and deprived of those privileges they had in general population and must work on an incentive program that is behaviorally motivated to change their ways to comply with regulations and resist acts of violence or other illicit criminal conduct to express themselves while inside these confined units. Time spent inside these units must be controlled to allow a pressure relief valve to exist and give the prisoner a chance to breath fresh air in order to understand the comparison between the SHU/SMU and general population challenging them to conform and return back to an acceptable and methodical conduct and behaviors approved and acceptable in prison. Never-ending or unlimited disciplinary sentences allow no chance for change or hope in the behavior and must be eliminated.

Recommendation should include specialized training for staff to recognize those who are mentally ill and behaviorally motivated to incite disorder; proposals to implement alternative self help in cell programs that allows the prisoner an opportunity to deal with their anger, their ability to free themselves from gang influence and the opportunity to think for themselves and gain back their self-respect to make better decisions.

Validated gang members must be educated to abstain from gang activities and learn to re-shape their conduct to be free from gang influence and behavior. A step down program can be offered in lieu of a “debrief” program that produces nothing but “snitches” in the eyes of other prisoners thus giving them a death sentence for wanting to get away from the gangs. Other states have successful programs that illustrate the value of having such a program in place as it allows a reduction in custody level and return to a lesser restrictive living environment while on probation to remain clear of any disciplinary conduct that is gang related. Since many already know that the SHU/SMU is a dead end street [in the manner it is operated today], this step down associated with personal incentives to succeed can bring hope to these SHU/SMU inmates to exit these units in a most acceptable manner and with dignity and respect that is so important to them and among each other. Time frames and good planning are in order to allow the existence of such a curriculum and the administration should challenge those who carry the unspoken qualities of power and influence to encourage others to participate and reform their gang like behavior into acceptable conduct both socially and administratively.