High-security prisons throughout California have severely restricted movement, call and access, while officials continue to surge in violence this year.
The restrictions began Saturday, affecting nearly a dozen locked-in top security departments, including the California Correctional Institution, California Prison Los Angeles County and the California Secret Ramando Prison.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement that under the agreement, meals must be delivered directly to housing units and showers, and any other exercise must be conducted in a “controlled manner.”
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Calls through phones and Viapath tablets are also restricted and access is restricted.
Officials say inmates still have access to health care, legal proceedings and other “critical appointments.”
“It is important to note that this modified procedure is different from lockdown and is specifically used in Class IV housing units,” the statement said.
Asked for more information about the restrictions, CDCR spokesman Terri Hardy said officials are conducting a comprehensive investigation into violence at Level IV facilities across the state. The investigation continues. ”
Correction officials are investigating seven deaths since the beginning of this year. These occurred the day before the Department of Corrections announced restrictions.
Joshua L. Peppers, 39, was attacked by another inmate at a Los Angeles County facility on March 7 and died at a medical facility, corrections officers said in a statement. He is serving his sentence for a second-degree robbery.
According to correctional officials, Jake T. Kennedy, 32, was found stabbed multiple times in a cell in the Sacramento prison that morning. He died in the classification and treatment areas and found improvised weapons. He stayed for some time to carry hidden blade weapons and subsequent prison attacks.
M. Merino, 37, a German prisoner, died a few hours later after an attack by two prisoners in the Kern Valley State Prison. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder.
Prison violence is a long-standing problem because people serving their sentences have little to no loss.
For example, in January, Mario Campbell, 36, attacked two inmates in January at the main driving range at the Sacramento prison, whose lives could be a possibility of parole, correctional officials said. About an hour and a half later, he died at a medical facility and officers found three improvised weapons.
These restrictions will remain in place until the investigation is completed. It is not clear how long it can take.
According to California Correctional Health Care Services, there were 32 homicides last year.
