Hi, my name is Derrick Gibson, a prisoner in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on the restricted release list of solitary confinement. After a week-long hunger strike and protest of the prison conditions of long-term solitary confinement along with fellow prisoners held in long-term solitary confinement on the restricted release list here at SCI Phoenix, a so-called IMU program has officially begun on July 12th, 2020.
This IMU program policy and procedures are alleged to be implemented by the PADOC to give prisoners held in long-term solitary confinement on the restricted release list more privileges, out-of-cell programming, and the opportunity to be phased out of solitary confinement and off of the restricted release list and housed back into general population.
Hopefully, this IMU program will be properly instituted and will be an effective tool to end solitary confinement in the restricted release list here in the PADOC, but only time will tell. In solidarity, prisoner and author Derrick Gibson, institutional number JP2190.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio.