Complaint filed on behalf of 10 men held in solitary confinement at California's Pelican Bay state prison for a decade or more

California's prison system is facing an unprecedented lawsuit which accuses it of operating an unconstitutional and "uniquely harsh regime" in which hundreds of prisoners have spent a decade or more locked in solitary confinement.

On Thursday the Center for Constitutional Rights and a team of California attorneys filed a complaint (pdf) on behalf of 10 men housed at Pelican Bay state prison, California's most restrictive correctional facility, designed to house the so-called "worst of the worst".

The suit is the first of its kind to challenge the constitutionality of holding a US prisoner in solitary confinement for 10 years or more. Collectively, the plaintiffs in the case have spent over two centuries locked up alone, the bulk of that time in the cramped, windowless cells of Pelican Bay's controversial Security Housing Unit (SHU). One plaintiff has been in solitary confinement for 33 years.

In addition to extended periods of isolation, the suit also challenges the state's widespread use of solitary confinement and the means by which a prisoner may be released from the unit.

"California is unique in the sense that its use of solitary confinement is really rampant," said Alexis Agathocleous, an attorney representing the prisoners. "There is just no other state in the country that consistently retains so many prisoners in solitary confinement for such long periods."

The suit calls for the release of all Pelican Bay prisoners who have spent more than ten years in the SHU, the alleviation of certain conditions in the unit – including sensory deprivation and the lack of social and physical contact – and "meaningful review" of the need for the continued confinement of current and future SHU prisoners. It follows a series nationwide prison hunger strikes that began last summer aimed at reforming California's solitary confinement practices.

A quarter of the world's prisoners

Though home to just 5% of the global population, the US houses a quarter of the planet's prisoners, with the largest concentration in California. Overcrowding has become so severe that in March 2011 the supreme court ordered the state to reduce its overall prison population by more than 30,000 inmates.

California's high number of inmates has exacerbated the problem of violent prison gangs, which last year were linked to 1,759 homicides, attempted homicides and violent attacks on staff members or other inmates.

While some states have opted to remove gang members from the general population by placing them in solitary confinement, California has taken the extra step of sending not only full gang members but also inmates who associate with gangs to maximum security facilities, including Pelican Bay's SHU.

As of 2011, California determined more than 3,000 prisoners were gang members or associates and held them in one of the state's three maximum security facilities as a result. Over 500 of Pelican Bay's SHU prisoners – roughly half of the men in held in the unit – had been there for more than 10 years; 78 of them for more than 20.

The lives of Pelican Bay's SHU prisoners are severely isolated. The men spend no less than 22 hours each day confined to a 8 x 10" cell. Communication is strictly limited. Simply greeting a validated gang member or associate in passing can be used as evidence of gang affiliation. One of the plaintiffs, Luis Esquivel, claims he has not shaken another person's hand in 13 years and fears he has forgotten the feeling of human contact.

Personal telephone calls are prohibited except in certain emergency cases. Plaintiff Todd Ashker says he was only able to speak to his mother twice in the 22 years he has been in the SHU. She has since died. Meanwhile, Gabriel Reyes – sentenced to 25 years to life after burglarizing an uninhabited building – was allegedly denied a telephone call home when his stepfather died because he had been allowed a telephone call months earlier when his biological father passed away. Reyes has not hugged his daughters in nearly two decades.

The primary reason prisoners remain in the SHU, according to the suit, is their refusal or inability to "debrief" administrators on the gang activity of other inmates; essentially providing officials with every piece of information they have on the violent gang they are accused of being linked to.

According to the plaintiffs' complaint, the requirement "condition[s] release from inhumane conditions on cooperation with prison officials in a manner that places prisoners and their families in significant danger of retaliation".

Agathocleous, along with his co-counsels and clients, argues California's solitary confinement policies cast too wide a net, resulting in lengthy and tortuous isolation over tenuous links to gangs.

"California places prisoners in solitary confinement for decades upon decades based only on allegations of gang affiliation, not gang-related violence," he said.

Agathocleous points to the case of plaintiff George Ruiz, a 69-year-old prisoner who has been in solitary confinement since 1984. Convicted of robbery and kidnapping in 1981, Ruiz has been disciplined once in the last 25 years for violating a prison rule; "mail violation with no security threat."

"This is a guy with relatively minimal disciplinary history, certainly not somebody you would expect to be locked up in solitary confinement for 25 years, yet there he is," Agathocleous said.

In 2007 Ruiz was denied inactive gang status and has remained in the SHU because his name appeared on two lists found in separate prisoners' cells suggesting he was in "good standing" with a prison gang, he also possessed photocopied pictures drawn by other prisoners. Prison officials claimed the drawings included gang-affiliated symbols.

Richard Johnson – who is serving 33 years for drug related offenses and has never incurred a major disciplinary offense – had similar experience. In 1997 he was denied inactive gang status after prison officials discovered a book about George Jackson – the Black Panther killed at San Quentin prison in 1971 – in his cell.

Indeed several of the plaintiffs' alleged gang ties were based on the confidential allegations of fellow prisoners – which the accused say they are unable to challenge – and materials found in their cells.

Regardless of a prisoner's past, Agathocleous argues extended placement in solitary confinement is inexcusable.

"Even for those who have committed violent acts, putting someone in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time puts them at a significant risk of descending into irreversible mental illness," he said. "This is just a human rights abuse. It's torture. It's unacceptable under any circumstances."

Agathocleous' claim echoes statements made by the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture in October.

"Segregation, isolation, separation, cellular, lockdown, Supermax, the hole, Secure Housing Unit… whatever the name, solitary confinement should be banned by States as a punishment or extortion technique," Juan E. Méndez told the UN's third committee. Citing studies on the mental health impacts of solitary confinement, Méndez said isolation that lasted more than 15 days should be absolutely prohibited.

Following last summer's hunger strikes – which involved thousands of prisoners – the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation issued an outline of revised strategy aimed at reforming its solitary confinement policies.

Agathocleous says the strategy fell short of instituting real change, arguing it remains unclear how prisoner can be removed from the SHU.

"It's been months since the second hunger strike ended, still the prisoners have seen no relief whatsoever on their core demands," he said. "It's wholly inadequate."

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment until it had fully reviewed the complaint.