UN torture investigator wants access to Calif. prison isolation units

Source: Los Angeles Times

UN torture investigator wants access to Calif. prison isolation units
Published: October 19, 2013

By PAIGE ST. JOHN — Los Angeles Times


SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The United Nations' lead torture investigator says he is worried about increased use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and wants access to California lockups to ensure that prisoners' rights are being protected.

"We should have more justification" for putting prisoners in isolation, Juan Mendez, the U.N.'s special monitor on torture, told the Los Angeles Times' editorial board Friday. He called for greater scrutiny of prison systems that routinely put inmates in solitary confinement.

"We should put the burden on the state that this is the proper way to do things, and we should all be a lot more skeptical," Mendez said.

Experts say California has about 10,000 inmates in isolation units, where prisoners connected to gangs can be held for decades. The practice sparked a 60-day prison hunger strike during the summer by inmates who said such confinement is tantamount to torture.



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