10/8 - SF,CA: Unlock the Box conference to shut down Prison Control Unit's

The Security Housing Unit (SHU) is a prison within a
prison. It consists of 6x9 foot cells with prisoners
locked up at least 22 hours a day, in conditions of
sensory deprivation: no daylight, no human contact, no
training or educational activities, and no phone
access. Guards subject prisoners to strip searches and
shackles every time they leave their cells. The only
regular release from the cell is to an exercise cell
that is just a larger version of the SHU cell. As a
former SHU prisoner commented, "I wouldn't wish that
on my worse enemy."

Unlock the Box is a product of many years of struggle
to shut down the Security Housing Units in California.

During this time, the United Front to Abolish the SHU
was created as a forum to coordinate the actions of
everyone involved in this campaign. Since its
creation, the United Front has continued to expand in
membership and in the number of people we reach with
our message.

This conference is a step in the process of building
more unity with groups all over the country and the
world who are engaged in the struggle to end this
torture. The goals of Unlock the Box include
increasing
communication between groups over a wider geographic
area, coming up with plans of action to strengthen
those connections and expand our struggle, and
strengthening our cause through mass participation.
The event will be a combination of presenters with
vast experience in this struggle and working groups to
come up with plans of action, with performances and
food in between.

United Front Mission Statement: The United Front to
Abolish the SHU is dedicated to shutting down Security
Housing Units (SHUs) in California prisons. The SHU is
one type of control unit, which are solitary or small
group confinement cells. The inhuman conditions in
control units, including total sensory deprivation,
amount to torture. The United Front to Abolish the SHU
demands that all control units be abolished across the
country.

The United Front to Abolish the SHU includes: Maoist
Internationalist Movement, Barrio Defense Committe,
Justice for Palestinians, Chicano Mexicano Prison
Project, Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League,
African
People's Socialist Party, Committee on Raza Rights,
California Prison Focus, African People's Solidarity
Committee and other concerned individuals

Other Endorsers of Unlock the Box include:
Break The Chains prisoner-solidarity organization
(Eugene, Oregon USA), Idriss Stelley Foundation, DeBug
(the online magazine of the South Bay), Proyecto
Common
Touch, Campaign for Justice for Rudy Cardenas, Justice
Action (Australia), Black August Organizing Committee,
Families to Amend Three Strikes (FACTS)- San Jose,
Books Not Bars, South Bay Committee in Solidarity with
Cuba, All of us or None ...