Hugo Pinell (also known as Yogi Bear) has been in California prisons since he was 19 years old. He is 61 on March 10, 2007. His original case (an assault charge for which he turned himself in) would have cost the average citizen a few years in prison. Hugo became politicized by revolutionary prisoners such as W.L Nolen and George Jackson, who promoted revolution amongst prisoners and organized resistance to the racist attacks against them. They wanted fair treatment and opportunity for a good life when they left prison. On August 21, 1971, Jackson was murdered in the yard at San Quentin in an alleged escape attempt. Six prisoners were put on trial for the murders and assaults of three guards and two inmate trustees during the incident. Hugo is the only one of the six who remains in prison. He is now in his 40th year of continuous custody. Thirty-four of those years have been in solitary confinement.
Hugo is kept in the infamous Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit (SHU) in the northwest corner of California near Oregon. The prison is solid gray concrete and the SHU is windowless with only doors for entrance, like a large tomb. It is “hi-tech”, with automatic doors and gates and only artifical light. Even the so-called yard is nothing more than a “dog run” or outdoor closet with 20 foot high walls covered on top with Plexiglas. SHU prisoners are locked down 24/7 except for a possible hour on the “dog run” where they can exercise alone with no equipment whatsoever. They are not permitted any arts and crafts, and only a very limited nunber of books and property. They are chained hand and foot whenever they leave their cells, escorted by two prison guards. Visits are limited to week-ends and holidays and are less than two hours. Visits are conducted in a “phone booth”. They cannot call outside. In short, Yogi’s mother, who has been visited him for all these years, has not been able to hug her son in 30 years.
Hugo Pinell #A88401 P.O. Box 7500 SHU-D Crescent City California 95531
Kiilu Nyasha
Kiilu Nyasha (formerly known as Pat Gallyot) was a former member of the Black Panthers’ Chapter in New Haven, Connecticut and of the legal defense team of Party Chairman Bobby Seale’s trial for murder and conspiracy. She is an international egalitarian. The mother of two adults, she has been in the struggle to free political prisoners, abolish the death penalty and the prison system; and an actionist in global liberation movements. Kiilu is currently a producer/programmer for KPOO, a Black listener- sponsored public radio station in San Francisco. She is one of the strongest and loudest voices demanding and working for the release of Hugo Pinell, Ruchell Magee and Romaine Chip Fitzgerald, three of the longest held political prisoners from the Panther era.
