Families Of LA Prisoners Petition Against Solitary Confinement

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — California prison inmates who are held in solitary confinement are petitioning the United Nations to step in and end the practice.

KNX 1070′s John Brooks reports that advocates submitted the petition on behalf of 400 of the more than 4,000 prisoners in isolation at a news conference in Los Angeles Tuesday.

"California is not Guantanamo, California is not operating in Medieval Times, said Peter Schey, President of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. "This is not a gulag."

Those who attended the conference are unhappy with state prison officials' recently proposed change to make it easier for inmates to get out of solitary confinement.

Among those who are unhappy was the mother of a 14-month-long prisoner in isolation at Pelican Bay.

"What would you do if it was your husband, or your brother?" said Dalores Conales. "How would you feel? Would you not be crying out?"

In:
• Los Angeles
• Prison