Racial tension not the cause of prison riots, says San Quentin inmate

The reality of California’s overcrowded prisons is something our street team member Richard Gilliam lives daily. He’s an inmate at San Quentin State Prison, and he corresponds with us through letters about the issues he witnesses from inside. In August, a violent riot broke out in nearby Folsom Prison:

NEWS REPORT: All Folsom prison remains on lockdown tonight after a riot involving as many as 200 inmates. Seven inmates were transported to hospitals ... big question tonight, what exactly started this riot? Officials do not know that but investigation is underway tonight to find out…

In a recent letter, Gilliam says he thinks the mainstream media never get to the real cause of such riots. KALW’s Brian Pelletier reads Gilliam’s dispatch from behind bars.

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RICHARD GILLIAM: Every so often, we hear about a riot or uprising in this prison or that. Such was the case recently at Folsom Prison near Sacramento. News reports stated that up to 400 black and Hispanic inmates clashed, injuring dozens and prompting prison officials to institute a lockdown at the facility. When these disturbances occur, the Department of Corrections invariably places the blame on racial tensions. But this type of specious reasoning doesn't begin to address the real causes of these disturbances.

In California, the prison system as it exists today was built to house 87,000 prisoners. At present, it's packed with more than 170,000. That means that half of the physical resources available for almost twice the number of people. For instance, the number of toilets available in every housing unit were built for half of the people that use them, and the cell living configuration housing two people instead of one. That doesn't tax the infrastructure too much, but in a dormitory built for 100 that's now housing 200 inmates – that's a real problem. Imagine having to wait in line to relieve yourself or take a shower. Then watching someone crowd his way in. In the hyper-masculine environment of prison, that spells conflict.

The seriousness of the overcrowding problem has recently gained national attention. The United States Supreme Court is set to decide whether or a the Ninth Circuit panel can order California to release upwards of 40,000 inmates due to inadequate medical care because of overcrowding. The Ninth Circuit court found that because of severe overcrowding, men and women prisoners were dying unnecessarily – a violation of the ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Had it not been for that, the consequences of overcrowding might have gone unnoticed for much longer.