Pelican Bay State Prison

The prison is located in a detached section of Crescent City, several miles north of the main urban area and just south of the Oregon border. Pelican Bay State Prison opened in 1989. It covers , and grounds and operations are physically divided. An X-shaped cluster of buildings comprise a quarter of the prison's facilities, and are known as the Security Housing Unit, or SHU. This facility contains 1,056 solitary confinement cells, organized into 132 eight-cell pods. Half of the prison holds Level IV (maximum security) inmates in a general population environment with two-man cells. The remaining prison houses Level II inmates in an open-cell, dormitory-style facility for 500 individuals. Level I (minimum security) prisoners are housed in a 400 man facility outside of the main perimeter of the prison. , 1,852 people were incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison. 1,112 (60%) of those inmates were Level IV (maximum security) prisoners, 290 of whom were located in the Security Housing Unit. == History ==

Early brutality After Pelican Bay State Prison opened in 1989, guards eager to assert their dominance over the inmates established a culture of violence. Inmates in the Security Housing Unit were beaten, tied and left naked, or subjected to staged "gladiator fights" by guards who would intentionally release two prisoners from enemy gangs and then shoot at the prisoners after they began fighting. Prisoners were regularly housed two to a cell in the SHU due to overcrowding, with 364 prisoners double-bunked in 1990 and approximately 1,000 double-bunked by 1995, leading to serious injuries from cell fights. The strike lasted for two months, and dozens of prisoners were hospitalized. In August 2015, as a result of the aforementioned class-action lawsuit, California agreed to end its unlimited isolation policy. Inmates are no longer isolated as a preventive measure; only those who commit new crimes while incarcerated are eligible for up to five years of isolation. == Notable inmates ==

• Roy Norris: One half of the Toolbox Killers, spent some time at PBSP in the late 90s. • Cary Stayner: The Yosemite Park Killer sentenced to death for four counts of murder. Transferred from San Quentin to PBSP due to the abolishment of death row. • Curtis Carroll: Murderer and financial advisor. • Hugo Pinell: One of six inmates infamous for their 1971 escape attempt from San Quentin State Prison that left six people dead. Spent 43 years in long-term confinement (23 of those years were spent in the SHU) - longer than any other inmate in California. Was stabbed to death during a riot at California State Prison, Sacramento, just two weeks after being released from the SHU into the general population. • Joe "Pegleg" Morgan: First non-Hispanic Mexican Mafia member, sentenced to life in prison for murder in 1956. Morgan was housed in the SHU until his transfer to the hospital ward of Corcoran State Prison, where he died from liver cancer in November 1993. • Sanyika Shakur: Former Crips member and author of Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member, sentenced to five years in the SHU for assault and grand theft auto in January 1991. Was imprisoned again for six years for parole violation in May 2008 but paroled in August 2012. • Rene Enriquez: Former member of the Mexican Mafia, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1991 for two separate murders. In 1993, he was sent to the SHU, but is now doing his time in protective custody at Ironwood State Prison after becoming a government informant. • Mark William Cunningham: Serial killer who murdered three men in 1983. • Lloyd Avery II: Actor most famous for his role in Boyz n the Hood, sentenced in 2005 to life imprisonment for double homicide. In September 2005, he was beaten and strangled to death by cellmate Kevin Roby; controversy ensued when it was revealed that his corpse allegedly was not discovered for another two days. • Marion "Suge" Knight: Record producer sentenced to nine years for parole violation in 1996 and released in 2001. Sentenced to 10 months in 2003 for assault and parole violation. In 2018 Knight was sentenced to 28 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole until October 2034. • Charles Manson: Infamous cult leader, sentenced to life imprisonment on seven counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. In March 1997, he was charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and transferred from CSP Corcoran to the Pelican Bay SHU for 14 months before being moved back to CSP Corcoran in May 1998; died at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, California, in 2017. • Ricardo Medina Jr.: Actor famous for starring in Power Rangers Wild Force, sentenced to six years in prison for voluntary manslaughter for stabbing his roommate with a sword. • Donny Johnson: murderer and painter. ==In popular culture==

Television and film In the fictional series Life, Detective Charlie Crews spends twelve years in Pelican Bay for a triple homicide he did not commit, part of it spent in the SHU, as the background of the series' plot. In the TV series The Shield, the main character Vic Mackey regularly threatens recalcitrant suspects with only the name of the prison. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) threatens gang members with a sentence in Pelican Bay and the SHU program in the movie Training Day (2001). Waingro (Kevin Gage) explains to a bartender he was in the SHU at Pelican Bay, B-wing, to get work in the movie Heat (1995). Literature In the novel The Lincoln Lawyer (2005), defense attorney Mickey Haller suggests to his client that he will serve his sentence in Pelican Bay due to his dishonesty and noncooperation. == See also ==