Mainstream Press

Note: As Control Units have received more and more press we have not actively kept this list up. For the latest news see prisoner reports below.

Lawsuit First to Challenge use of Solitary Confinement in California County Jails - The lawsuit argues that Santa Clara's sheriff is locking up hundreds of inmates in small filthy jail cells and allowing them out for as few as three hours a week. Inmates held in isolation, the lawsuit argues, are subjected to conditions that "serve no penological purpose." In addition to having very little out-of-cell time, inmates receive limited visiting time and are completely shackled whenever they leave their cells. (The Intercept, December 12, 2015)

Solitary in California Jails Still Hellish Despite State Reforms - Four days after his arrest, Carroll committed suicide. Because of his small stature and age — he was 51 — he'd been placed in protective custody, a classification reserved for inmates deemed too vulnerable to be housed in the jail's general population. (The Intercept, October 29, 2015)

Trapped in Tamms: In Illinois' only supermax facility, inmates are in cells 23 hours a day - Faygie Fields' escape from years of solitary confinement on the toughest wing of Illinois' only state-run supermax prison began with food. He claimed there were rat droppings in his rice, bugs in... (Belleville News-Democrat, August 2, 2009)

Hellhole - The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture? (The New Yorker, March 30, 2009)

Do special units go too far? - They're the worst of the worst in the state prison system. Fifty-five men out of 48,900 inmates whose behavior led them to the hole beyond the hole... (Patriot-News, December 12, 2008)

report back from StopMax 2008 Conference - With former prisoners and their families at the helm, the movement to abolish supermax prisons and end solitary confinement is gaining ground. (AlterNet, August 11, 2008)

Raise a toast to the decline of Supermax era - Supermax symbolizes the American political appetite for more incarceration—and more severe punishment—instead of drug treatment, counseling and other progressive services for the prison population. (The Baltimore Sun, October 19, 2003)

Report on State Prisons Cites Inmates' Mental Illness - One of every four New York State prisoners who are kept in punitive segregation—confined to a small cell at least 23 hours a day—are mentally ill, according to a new report by a nonprofit group that has been critical of state prison policies. (New York Times, October 22, 2003)

A necessary evil? - California corrections officials say they need SHUs to control incorrigibly violent cons in the state's vast archipelago of prisons, teeming with nearly 160,000 inmates. While no one could argue with that goal, there are significant concerns about the tactic. For starters, it's not clear to what extent SHUs are indeed reducing prison violence. (LA Times, October 19, 2003)

News from Prisoners by State
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News from California
NPR Ignores Torture in United $tates ( 20 September 2023)

CPF Demands Gov. Newsom Liberates Our Elders ( 15 July 2022)

Rest in Power: Principal Thinker, Peace Maker, New Afrikan Revolutionary Paul Redd ( 15 July 2022)

Liberate Our Elders Event Unites Inside & Out ( 20 February 2022)

CDCR Using COVID Quarantine as Isolation Cells for Organizers ( 1 July 2021)

ASU Prisoners Fighting Torture in California ( 14 July 2017)

CDCR Not Upholding Ashker Settlement on Due Process ( 18 May 2017)

CRC Recruiting Snitches, Bringing False Charges on Grievers ( 17 January 2017)

Hunger Strike Against Long-Term Isolation in Santa Rosa Jail ( 9 December 2016)

Control Unit Survey on Martinez 2 ( 9 December 2016)

California November Updates: Stamp restrictions, Santa Clara strike success and Ashker settlement update ( 6 November 2016)

Unjustified Isolation for Medical Patients at CSP-Sacramento ( 11 July 2016)

Chicano Power Book Tainted by AEH Statement ( 1 May 2016)

The 2 Strikes Law: How it is being used as a revolving door into the abyss of indeterminate SHU terms ( 15 February 2016)

Torture Continues: CDCR Settlement Screws Prisoners ( 9 September 2015)

CDCR Lackeys Assassinate Leader of Prison Movement ( 21 August 2015)

The more things change, the more they stay the same ( 13 May 2015)

It's Phase Two, We're All Goin' to the SHU ( 23 February 2015)

Agreement to End Hostilities is the Main Struggle in CA ( 25 January 2015)

(Un)Due Process of Validation and Step Down Programs ( 14 October 2014)

Pigs Orchestrate Race Riots to Fill Control Units ( 30 September 2014)

Back in the SHU II D.R. ( 8 July 2014)

Segregation is Torture, Unite to Fight Common Enemies ( 25 June 2014)

California SHU Battle Part of Anti-Imperialist Struggle ( 17 June 2014)

Pantries, Poisons, and Gassings: Abuse of Mental Patients in Security Housing Units ( 4 March 2014)

Pelican Bay SHU Update, Small Progress After Hunger Strike ( 3 March 2014)

Democracy Denied to Abused Prisoners by CCI Warden ( 13 December 2013)

California Control Units: Racial Profiling and Social Control ( 5 November 2013)

Political Repression Against Peaceful Protestors at Corcoran Continues ( 17 October 2013)

CA Strike Suspended: CDCR Will Not Meet 5 Core Demands ( 6 September 2013)

STG Kickouts are a Sham ( 24 August 2013)

Martinez Ad-Seg Issues Hunger Strike Demands ( 17 July 2013)

Week 2: Reports from CA Activists on Strike ( 16 July 2013)

30,000 Spark California Hunger Strike ( 9 July 2013)

Death Row Prisoners Kick-Off California Hunger Strike July 1 ( 30 June 2013)

San Quentin Adjustment Center list of demands to CDCR ( 19 June 2013)

Control Unit Torture at San Quentin ( 5 June 2013)

Advance the Struggle for Humyn Rights in CA Prisons ( 24 May 2013)

New STG Step Down Program is a Sham ( 3 May 2013)

Gearing up for July 8 California Hunger Strike ( 29 March 2013)

Challenging Conditions of Confinement in SHU ( 29 December 2012)

New Rules for California Security Threat Groups - Same Old Repression ( 6 December 2012)

Commemorating California Hunger Strike, Continuing Fight Against Control Units ( 27 July 2012)

Report Back from Corcoran Hunger Strike ( 20 April 2012)

Political Activist Locked in SHU on Falsified Evidence ( 9 December 2011)

Last Men Standing in CA Hunger Strike ( 22 October 2011)

PBSP Strike Update - CDCR Still Breaking Laws ( 5 October 2011)

Strikers Continue until Debriefing Stops ( 3 October 2011)

Corcoran ASU Participating in Hunger Strike ( 3 October 2011)

Struggle Remains Strong and Steady in Corcoran SHU ( 1 October 2011)

CDCR Responds with More Group Punishment, Isolation, and Gang Charges ( 30 September 2011)

Calipatria Prisoners Staying Strong in Hunger Strike in Face of Harassment and Abuse ( 30 September 2011)

Strike, Litigate, Research, Organize - Prisoners Build Movement ( 28 September 2011)

15 in Chino Strike til PBSP Demands Met ( 26 September 2011)

Support the Statewide Mobilization ( 23 September 2011)

Running Out of Space for Falsely Validated SHU Prisoners ( 23 August 2011)

More Appeals Sent to CDCR, Protest in Sacramento ( 18 July 2011)

More on Anti-Strike Propaganda ( 15 July 2011)

SHU is War on Aztlán ( 14 July 2011)

Hunger Strikers Reaching Critical Condition ( 12 July 2011)

Thousands of California Prisoners & Supporters Rally for Weeks ( 10 July 2011)

Validation Update for CA SHU ( 13 June 2011)

The Call ( 3 June 2011)

PBSP SHU D-Corridor Hunger Strike ( 3 June 2011)

July 1 Pelican Bay SHU Food Strike to Protest Inhuman Isolation ( 4 May 2011)

Illegal Validation of Latinos in California ( 19 April 2011)

False Validations Part of Prison Control Strategy ( 15 December 2010)

Keep Fighting Gang Validation ( 30 September 2010)

Wrongful Validation in California Leads to Support for Grievance Campaign ( 20 August 2010)

Control Units No Better than Zoo for Animals ( 17 August 2010)

Unlock the Box in New Folsom ASU ( 14 June 2010)

Unlock the Box: Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility ( 23 May 2010)

High Desert, CA Control Units ( 13 March 2010)

An All Points Bulletin from the Concrete Tombs of Pelican Bay ( 25 January 2010)

Turning from Violence to Progressive Organizing Gets Prisoner Validated and Locked Down ( 14 April 2009)

Gang validation of the politically active ( 5 July 2008)

Pelican Bay a dead end ( 26 June 2008)

Bad food, no visits, and locked down in California ( 23 May 2008)

Prisons create violence ( 12 May 2008)

On lockup for filing lawsuit ( 10 March 2008)

Green Wall at California prison ( 31 January 2008)

High Desert ban's MIM, falsifies reports on prisoners ( 25 January 2008)

California housing integration an excuse to lock more prisoners in control units ( 19 November 2007)

California uses gang label to stop activist prisoners ( 19 October 2007)

Control units - living like dogs ( 1 October 2007)

Snitch or be locked down ( 24 July 2007)

Resisting the subversive extremes of political persecution ( 21 May 2007)

California Trumped Up Gang Validation ( 1 March 2007)

Locked in SHU after release date, still fighting ( 14 December 2006)

History of the Peace Summit initiative at Pelican Bay ( 1 October 2006)

UNLOCK THE BOX! CONFERENCE BUILDS STRUGGLE TO SHUT DOWN CONTROL UNITS ( 8 October 2005)

News from Colorado
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News from Federal
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News from Kansas
Isolation cell in Kansas ( 25 April 2007)

News from Louisiana
News from Maryland
News from Massachusetts
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News from Mississippi
Segregation in Mississippi ( 25 September 2008)

News from Missouri
News from Montana
News from Nebraska
Isolation for Symbolic Drawing ( 29 October 2010)

News from Nevada
News from New Jersey
News from New Mexico
News from New York
News from North Carolina
News from Ohio
News from Oklahoma
Oklahoma Pigs Set Up Prisoners ( 6 February 2009)

Repression in OK SHU ( 5 May 2004)

News from Oregon
News from Pennsylvania
News from South Carolina
News from Tennessee
News from Texas
How the Prison War Looks in Texas Ad-Segs ( 1 January 2024)

An Update on the Juneteenth Freedom Initative ( 1 July 2023)

Ad-Seg Drives Self-Mutilation, At Least 6 Dead in 60 Days ( 9 February 2023)

End RHU & All Solitiary Confinement in Texas ( 20 January 2023)

TDCJ Officials DENIED Summary Judgment in Fight to END Restrictive Housing in Texas ( 16 August 2022)

Juneteenth Freedom Initiative Flyer ( 3 August 2022)

Juneteenth Freedom Initiative Phase 2 ( 1 August 2022)

Counselor Pigs Exploit Mental Health Programs for Profit in TDCJ ( 3 June 2022)

Texas Liberation Collective Gearing Up for Juneteenth ( 15 April 2022)

Path to Redemption Needed in Texas ( 15 January 2022)

Shut Down TX RHU, a Tool of Political Repression ( 7 January 2022)

Campaign to Boycott Juneteenth Until Slavery and Mass Incarceration is Ended for All ( 20 October 2021)

Campaign to End Solitary Confinement & Repeal B.P. 3.91 ( 11 August 2021)

Hunger Strike in Allred Unit Wins Promise of Phone Contact with Family and Friends ( 11 September 2020)

Team 1 Demands TX Address COVID-19, Segregation, Release, Food and more ( 20 June 2020)

Ad-Seg "Changed" to "Restricted Housing" ( 19 November 2019)

Solitary Confinement Ongoing in TX Despite Policy Changes ( 13 May 2018)

Use of Gas in Eastham ( 30 July 2017)

Where were the guards? ( 6 March 2016)

Update on Lawsuit on Inadequate Rec and Food ( 3 December 2015)

Injury, Insult, Disability, Isolation ( 30 November 2015)

Following Policies or Following Whims? ( 27 June 2015)

Denied Recreation in Ad-Seg ( 13 March 2015)

Allred ECB Staff Provoke Prisoner Aggression ( 6 May 2014)

Texas Evades Reducing Ad-Seg ( 27 February 2014)

Fighting for Care of Disabled in Texas ( 7 February 2014)

Fighting Long Term Isolation in Texas Jail ( 9 September 2013)

Texas Comrades to Remember Attica September 9 ( 1 September 2013)

New Prisoners Isolated as Security Threat in Texas ( 1 July 2012)

More Orgs Labeled "Security Threat" for Raising Consciousness ( 1 June 2012)

We Must Fight ULK Denials ( 25 March 2011)

Real Revolutionaries Locked Down in Texas ( 14 April 2009)

Unlock the Box Research in Texas ( 23 January 2009)

Life in danger after being labeled a gang member ( 10 December 2008)

Abuse in Texas adseg ( 27 November 2008)

Isolation at Clements in Amarillo, TX ( 30 September 2008)

Latinos targeted for lockdown in Texas ( 29 September 2008)

False STG validation ( 26 September 2008)

Segregation in Texas ( 4 September 2008)

Unlock the Box - Ad-Seg in Texas ( 11 August 2008)

Control Units in Allred Unit Texas ( 8 August 2008)

Unlock the Box - Control Units in Texas ( 1 August 2008)

Unlock the Box survey ( 28 July 2008)

Administrative Segregation in Texas ( 10 July 2008)

Segregation and Classification in Texas ( 22 February 2008)

No water for ad-seg ( 30 August 2007)

So-called illegal immigrants ( 31 July 2007)

News from Utah
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