The will and motivation towards creativity or productivity would be numbed by the absence of environmental stimulant. (I sound like one of those witnesses giving testimony before a hearing.) Anyway, when the architects of PBSP (Pelican Bay State Prison) built this SHU, they designed it for the express purpose of making sure that its captives would suffer an inhumane deprivation of the senses. For those of us faced with each awakening day inside of these tombs, we must forever be mindful of the overwhelming effects taking place each moment of our existence. As children growing up in the natural environment outside of these walls, we have come into contact with the natural elements of creation. Our senses were nurtured to the extent upon which we developed a relation with the birds, flowers, trees, ocean, animals, etc., that shall always be an ingrained part of our humanity.

It is from those experiences that we must always rely upon in contemplating, meditating, and visualizing the world we know. Those who have televisions: spend time watching nature programs, not for the lone sake of entertainment, but now in the context of an everyday struggle in which we realize the forces of sensory deprivation. Ponder the insights entailed within nature itself, as we look at animals, life beneath the sea, the galactical skies, the ecological systems, and we shall prevail.

Latif Asad Abdullah
California