Political and Legal Opposition
A report by the United Methodist Church concluded that the extreme isolation of the unit was cruel and unusual punishment. A 38 page report by Amnesty International said that the HSU was violating the international standards of treatment of prisoners.
A lawsuit was filed in behalf of prisoners Silvia Baraldini and Susan Rosenberg. It challenged regulations that allowed the isolation of prisoners based on their political beliefs or affiliations. Judge Parker said in his ruling that: '"The treatment of the plaintiffs has skirted elemental standards of human decency. The exaggerated security, small group isolation and staff harassment serve to constantly undermine the inmates' morale." He ordered the Bureau of Prisons to rewrite its regulations and transfer the prisoners into the general prison population .
In response to mounting opposition the Bureau of Prisons closed the facility in 1988.
Read more about this topic: High Security Unit
Famous quotes containing the words political, legal and/or opposition:
“Truly men hate the truth; they’d liefer
Meet a tiger on the road.
Therefore the poets honey their truth with lying; but religion-
Vendors and political men
Pour from the barrel, new lies on the old,”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“I fear the popular notion of success stands in direct opposition in all points to the real and wholesome success. One adores public opinion, the other, private opinion; one, fame, the other, desert; one, feats, the other, humility; one, lucre, the other, love; one, monopoly, and the other, hospitality of mind.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)