Report decries suicides, isolation cells in California prisons

For 11 years in California's vast prison system, Alex Machado didn't stand out. Not until the day he was "validated" as a gang member and transferred to Pelican Bay.

There, in solitary confinement, he began to unravel, prison documents showed. He slept little. Hygiene became sporadic. He heard voices and knocking on the walls.

In 15 months, Machado went from being an inmate who helped others craft legal appeals to one who smeared feces on his cell. In October 2011, he killed himself.

California has more inmate suicides than any other state, a total that is rising even as its prison population falls. Almost half those deaths occurred in the system's segregation cells.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prison-suicide-20120927,0,4904891.story