Texas prisoners who joined a hunger strike in protest against the state’s widespread use of prolonged solitary confinement have described the damage to inmates’ mental and physical health inflicted by a system they equate with torture.
Guadalupe III Constante said that despite having a clean disciplinary record, he has been held in isolation every day since he was convicted of robbery 17 years ago. “I went on hunger strike to bring attention to this torture – I haven’t had contact with my wife, kids, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents in 17 years.”
Constante, 44, was one of three inmates who communicated with the Guardian via prison emails. They set out the extreme conditions that drove them to participate in the hunger strike that began in January.
The protest is still continuing in small numbers. But at its peak, several hundred prisoners joined the action among the more than 3,000 confined in “restrictive housing”, as solitary confinement is known in Texas.
Prisoners in Constante’s wing have been allowed to visit an outside space just four days in the past two years, he said. Even then, it is rare to see the sun.
“They took us out before the sun came up. You are put in a cage about twice the size of our 6ft x 9ft cells. The rest of the time we are locked up 23 to 24 hours a day, year after year, decade after decade.”
Constante said that the most difficult aspect was the lack of human contact. “I miss not being able to go outside or just sit at a table and talk to people without having to yell out your door or through the walls. I haven’t held my kids in 17 years. The only touch I have had in that time is when an officer comes to put on the cuffs.”
As part of their demands, the hunger strikers prepared a set of written complaints and proposals. They called for an end to the system in which inmates found to have any association with gangs are kept in isolation indefinitely, irrespective of whether they have committed any rules violations.
Raymond Lopez, 67, who has spent about 28 years in solitary, said that it amounted to torture – a designation that has been upheld by the UN and international human rights organisations. Suicide attempts and self-mutilation were common, he said, exacerbated by severe staffing shortages.
“This morning around 3.30am an inmate believed he was having a stroke and called out that he needed medical attention. Inmates started hollering for the officers to come. There was a lot of noise and banging and around 4.30am medical help shows up. By then he couldn’t even walk out of his cell, he was carried on a stretcher.”
There are more than 500 prisoners in Texas who have been in isolation for 10 years or more – by far the largest number in any state in the union. Scientific studies have found that being held alone, devoid of all human contact, can cause mental breakdown in a matter of days.
Edwin Schneider, 61, who has been in solitary for more than 20 years, said he was aware of “some horrible stuff” occurring to his fellow isolation prisoners. “Seeing my friends, best friends, completely lose their minds. Some have affected me deeply.”
The worst incidents, he said, were when young inmates faced collapse. “I’ve had youngsters back here who called me ‘uncle’, ‘pops’, now ‘grandpa’. I’ve heard them lose their young minds in short periods of time. One was 29, only had two years till he was discharged – he hanged himself.”
Another young inmate killed himself soon after being brought to the solitary wing. “He had a history of suicide attempts, but they brought him straight into segregation,” Schneider said.
The prison authorities classified the young man as a gang member and therefore a security risk. “BS!” Schneider said. “This kid cried out for help!”
