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Blue tower

Pelican Bay State Prison, Crescent City, California. Some of you commented on my photos of the Air base in Klamath Falls. I accidentally went one better by taking a shot of this California state prison, the state's highest-security, rated a "Supermax." It was kind of impulsive, since I was driving by and happened to know what it was in the first place.

There are loads of photos of it online (inside and outside), Youtube videos and TV documentaries about Pelican Bay. Anyway, a guard came running up to me and informed me I couldn't take pictures, which I can understand in retrospect (oops, too late). Escapes have been aided - not especially at this one - by people on the outside "casing the joint."

California state prisons are heavily populated by gang members of all ethnicities. They are also notorious for excessive use of solitary confinement. Pelican houses the super-violent, and in no way has done rehabilitation until recently in small scale. When I was doing mental health therapy, I had a few Oregon clients who actually had PTSD from having been in California prisons.

I have NO illusions or soft feelings about career criminals, especially violent ones, but nearly all US prisons release people who are more felonious and crazy than when they went in. President Obama and both parties of Congress were making headway in prison reform, but the current regime will turn all progress backward.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_Bay_State_Prison
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16 comments

Sylvain Wiart said:

275 acres !!!
6 years ago ( translate )

Diane Putnam replied to Sylvain Wiart:

Yes, sir! It's enormous...and enormously dangerous.
6 years ago ( translate )

Edward Bowthorpe said:

Lovely shot Diane,eddie,
6 years ago ( translate )

Diane Putnam replied to Edward Bowthorpe:

Thank you, Eddie!
6 years ago

Keith Burton said:

Interesting image and narrative Diane...............from this angle it doesn't look much like a prison at all, but looks are obviously deceptive in this case.

I'm glad you didn't get into trouble ;-))
6 years ago

Diane Putnam replied to Keith Burton:

I only got yelled at and it did have a certain moderating effect! This is definitely a "wide open spaces" kind of prison, but most of them are, here. Thank you, Keith.
6 years ago

Andy Rodker said:

It's a fine shot of it, nicely framed. Interesting notes. Similar problems in the UK.
6 years ago

Diane Putnam replied to Andy Rodker:

Thank you, Andy.
6 years ago

Pano ☼ Rapi ♫✯♫ said:

Just have a look what kind present an American Filmmaker brought to the US.
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6 years ago

Diane Putnam replied to Pano ☼ Rapi ♫✯♫:

Oh, yes, I've read about the prisons in Norway. That will never happen here or anywhere else, no matter how well it works! To be fair, I can't imagine how these guys...
tinyurl.com/yb36qhyf
tinyurl.com/y7flx8ws
tinyurl.com/y9m5v5qd
...would respond to lace curtains and bicycles. Their mission is to kill each other. In contrast, Norway has always been a peaceful society. I am convinced, though, that many of our worst prisoners could become better people through art, music, job training and educational programs. Maximum security prisons don't have those.
6 years ago

Pano ☼ Rapi ♫✯♫ replied to Diane Putnam:

I found this too.
6 years ago

Don Barrett (aka DBs… said:

Our inequality and racial/ethnic hatred starts the process early...
6 years ago

Diane Putnam replied to Don Barrett (aka DBs…:

Oh yes it does! That's bound to get worse, now that it's completely "out of the closet" for the first time since the '60s. The beast has been unleashed.
6 years ago

Don Barrett (aka DBs… replied to Diane Putnam:

And he's too stupid to know that..
6 years ago

Diane Putnam replied to Don Barrett (aka DBs…:

Well, of course! It goes on and on. Some days I despair and feel utterly hopeless, other days I think, "Well, we've survived other catastrophes, so..."

By the way, there was a 60 Minutes report on Pelican Bay in which the warden said he regretted past use of extreme isolation, so that has been corrected. They have also introduced some productive activities. I'm sure it's because of my post on Ipernity - lol!
6 years ago