The American criminal justice system operates upon a very simple principle: Any person who commits a crime is to serve a sentence, and once they serve that sentence, they have paid their dues to society. However, our criminal justice system does not always adhere to this philosophy. The United States has a system of involuntary civil confinement facilities, a detestable system designed to incarcerate people even after they have served their prison sentences, and Coalinga State Hospital is one of the biggest perpetrators of this atrocity. Coalinga is one of the country’s largest shadow prisons, housing an appalling 941 citizens under the dehumanizing “sexually violent predator” (SVP) label. Six months prior to release, those “who [have been] convicted of a legislatively defined set of sex offenses” are seen by the “DSH [Department of State Hospital] or independent evaluators,” according to their website. If two evaluators say that they meet a certain set of criteria — and DSH can send multiple evaluators until they get the answer they want to hear, if one or more decline to certify that the person meets commitment criteria — the state initiates legal proceedings to determine whether or not they will be subjected to indefinite post-sentence civil confinement. These facilities operate outside the scope of the traditional criminal justice system, and for that reason, many people refer to them as “shadow prisons.” Many people in these shadow prisons feel that they were incorrectly evaluated, and some even claim to be innocent of the crimes of which they were initially convicted.
Enter James Hydrick, a sixty-one-year-old formerly renowned martial artist currently incarcerated inside Coalinga State Hospital, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing last month. In 1989, California convicted Hydrick of inappropriately touching six boys. He was subsequently sentenced to seventeen years in prison. But California didn’t release Hydrick when he completed his sentence. Instead, they alleged that Hydrick “has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to the health and safety of others in that it is likely that he or she will engage in sexually violent criminal behavior.” After a “civil” trial with few due process protections — featuring a couple of “expert” witnesses on the government’s payroll — Hydrick was sent to California’s shadow prison in Coalinga, where he remains to this day. However, Hydrick still maintains that he is not in any way ill.
“Sure do,” Hydrick answered when asked if he believes he should be a free man. “When I went to trial in San Luis in 2013, I got a hung jury 11-1 in my favor, and then another jury 10-2 — my favor. But they still tried me again. One of the things they were upset about is the fact that they wanted me to admit to my crimes, and I told [the judge] ‘No I didn’t commit the crimes.’” Hydrick said, referencing his civil confinement hearing.
Hydrick has been in California’s ‘not-a-prison’ prison since completing his seventeen-year prison sentence back in 1998. After a decade and a half of surviving in this Kafkaesque carceral system of preventative detention, he has a wealth of first-hand knowledge regarding what it’s like to be locked up for what you might do in the future. I interviewed Hydrick regarding a multitude of topics; his background, civil commitment, Coalinga, and Covid-19 in a carceral setting.
Hydrick is on record as having a very rough, abusive childhood — a history of trauma all too common amongst his fellow shadow prisoners at Coalinga— so Hydrick took up martial arts at an early age as a way of defending himself from the harm he was subjected to. Hydrick’s martial arts prowess would take him all over the world, even leading to a few TV appearances, and he went on to own martial arts dojos across the globe. Later in life, Hydrick would become a military contractor, doing work for the U.S. government in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Shortly after his return to the United States, Hydrick was convicted of engaging in lewd and lascivious acts with children and sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Six months prior to his release, the state evaluated Hydrick and diagnosed him with a “pedophilic disorder” and “antisocial personality disorder.” The state sent him to Atascadero State Hospital upon the completion of his prison sentence (the location of the California’s shadow prison at that time), and he would later be relocated to Coalinga State Hospital. However, in my interactions with Hydrick, he was anything but antisocial. The former TV personality was very talkative during our conversations and displayed an extreme passion for martial arts, a shared passion that we were able to discuss at length.
I asked Hydrick to open up about his experience in California’s so-called “sex offender civil commitment” scheme and the environment at Coalinga, and he began to detail the shadow prison’s lack of regulation and empathy:
“I’m treated like a prisoner. When I go out to medical appointments I am handcuffed, put in leg irons, and transported by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [California’s prison system]… You see, these staff members, they treat you like they treat you in prison. They look at you like they look at you in prison, like you are a worthless piece of crap. You don’t deserve nothing. You don’t get nothing. We can’t even have a piece of tape here. We can’t even have our own razor. Back in prison, they sold razors at the canteen.” Hydrick detailed to me how the facility deprives them of basic liberties which those in the traditional model of involuntary psychiatric commitment are supposed to be entitled to, such as wearing their own clothing and having a phone.
Conceptually, proponents of these facilities claim they are intended to be non-punitive carceral settings purely for mental health treatment. However, Hydrick’s testimony directly refutes this notion, describing instead what sounds like serving a second, indefinite prison sentence for a crime he has already been incarcerated for. This is the reality for all shadow prisoners, and it directly violates the constitution’s protection against double jeopardy. These facilities work in tandem with the sex registry and parole to limit the rights of those labeled “sex offenders,” thereby making them second class citizens.
The situation inside Coalinga was egregious enough on its own before the pandemic. Covid-19 has added a whole new layer of complexity, injustice, and mismanagement to the facility. The facility confines people to their “pods” (a space shared by a group of shadow prisons) most of the day — and social distancing is hardly possible in such a crowded carceral facility. “We’re dying in here,” Hydrick told me, alluding to the obscenely high positive case count of 442. “[People] are being cremated and disposed of without their family’s knowledge.” According to Hydrick, Covid-19 is traveling so fast through the facility due to “floaters,” staff members who come from working in contaminated pods and spread the virus throughout the facility.
Corey Hoch, another shadow prisoner incarcerated within Coalinga who I had the chance to speak with, further elaborated on the Covid-19 conditions inside the facility. I asked him about his thoughts on the outbreak. “I know they are trying with what they have, but they are failing,” Hough told me. Hough then began to detail how the facility pointlessly tries to enforce social distancing, “They attempted to set up a tape line on the ground that separates us during lunch when we line up to get our trays for lunch or any of our meal trays, and you can’t really go by it because you’ve got 50 people on the unit and there’s no space to socially distance like that. So it’s just not happening.”
It is evident that there is a pressing need to decarcerate these facilities, not only due to the injustices they perpetrate against citizens who have already paid their dues to society and the blatant deprivation of liberty, but also because of the dire situation Covid-19 presents for carceral settings. Amidst the pandemic, other carceral facilities, primarily prisons, have made an effort to decarcerate. These civil confinement facilities should be no different, especially since these men have served every day of their prison sentences and deserve to be free. Among the 442 confirmed positive cases in Coalinga, there have been 23 deaths, all of which might have been avoided through decarceration. “Whatever crime a man has committed to go to prison, he has paid his dues for that crime,” Hydrick told me at the end of our conversation, “[Post-sentence ‘civil’ confinement schemes] should be illegal. [It] serve[s] no purpose other than to continue your incarceration.”
Sources: Matt Fountain and Patrick S Pemberton,. “Ex-TV ‘Psychic’ Convicted of Sex Offenses to Stay Hospitalized,” The Tribune (April 28, 2014).
Watching CNN a few years ago a congressman accused China of locking up people for crimes they might commit in the future, isn’t that exactally what Coalinga is doing?
America – Home of the Free
Pingback: April 2023 | World Pirate Radio Podcast Network™ (WPRPN)
Pingback: Episode No.294 – JUSTICE (for James Hydrick) - Corruption Buzz
Hydrick is (in)famous for claiming to have magical powers that were debunked by a television magician. I would definitely classify him as a manipulative personality. However, that doesn’t mean he should be locked up—unlike the numerous people here calling for mass murder (of sex offenders), who actually should be in a mental institute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30o7_iy-O1g
Keep up the good work.
As a retired employee from this facility, there’s only a handful who should be returned to society. The others need to rot right where they’re at. Hydrick and Hoch are master manipulators and repetitive child molesters as is the half of the population. You should have been there to witness the major abuse, assaults, threats, and violence acts Hydrick did to the staff on a daily basis. Have you read his full report? Or just base your assessment via hearing what Hydrick told you?? At any time ask any of them to provide you their detailed reports of molesting and slaughtering of children. And if you feel so comfortable writing this article, us staff encourage you to leave your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews alone with these perps. Maybe then your dumb ass would think twice about writing this article. You spent what, maybe and hour with these molesters? I worked 12 years with all of them. Congratulations idiot, you have now been manipulated by a child predators. Make that your next article moron!!
We normally don’t approve dehumanizing or ignorant comments. For this article, we have been getting a high volume of people who assert that they used to work at California’s shadow prison. So we wanted you to get a sense of what kind of people work at this “not-a-prison” prison.
This particular comment (and collectively the comments from current and former shadow prison staff) indicates just the type of persons employed at Coalinga. If the goal and mission of the facility are to treat — and successfully release — people into the community (all of whom have already completed their prison sentence), then people with a mindset such as this supposed former employee should never be hired, especially in any rehabilitative setting. Further proof that Coalinga is a shadow prison with employees who serve as nothing more than glorified prison guards!
Thank You Just Future Project!!!! Agreed with you 100% on this. Staff with these kinds of attitudes are already verbally abusive to patients (in public!); it honestly makes me wonder about what truly goes on inside (not that I don’t have a good idea from patients, & even other staff.) A person with this kind of attitude has no interest or intention of rehabilitation; they seem almost violent toward these patients. And if this is the “treatment “ patients are receiving, no wonder it’s basically a life sentence for most!
Coalinga state prison is a blight on the reputation of America, along with the CIA black prisons, and torture. You are like a Nazi guard of a concentration camp. In 50 years when the crimes of the state have been overturned, you will be pleading your innocence: “I didn’t know.”
Did you know that in Germany, Paragraph 175 wasn’t overturned for decades. The gay prisoners of the Nazi regime became gay prisoners of the Liberated regime.
Nazi attitudes are very common. Only today they know to swear off the swastika.
If only a small percentage would reoffend should we lock up 100%. Are many the same person they were 20, 30, 40 years ago? People who slaughter children should remain in prison, can you name one that is housed in Coalinga?
Would you want one of these pedophiles with the most horrendous crimes imaginable against children being released and possibly being your neighbor???
Know both sides of the story before making a decision. The victims have a story too and many have their lives ruined for life; others commit suicide or become drug addicted to escape the pain from these crimes.
I am one such victim. I did not become a drug addict or abuser. I have friends that are drug addicts that were never abused. People are accountable for thier own actions.
Sex offenders are the scum of the Earth and these men ought to be grateful that they’re still alive and being cared for in a secure facility because I’m of the opinion that every damn one of them should have been executed for what they did and the fact that at least one of them in your story refuses to admit to his crime tells me that he is worse than scum f them all
are you aware that some are in there for just looking at pornography. so crazy. 40 years of never committing a crime and now has a life sentence
This article is absolute garbage. Whoever wrote it is either a pedo themselves or very biased and uneducated to the situation. The subjects used are a couple of the worst examples. They are both 1000 percent unfit for society.
Fuck these dumb mf’s an any of your family members in there. Thy are in there for a reason an should’ve been killed for their crime when they did it. Sexual acts on a CHILD and or anyone against their will should never even have the privilege of living the rest of their life in a “shadow prison” where they are babied an have way too many RIGHTS.
This place isn’t fixing the problem. They need real caring treatment. Most of the employees have very little education. It’s a paycheck not a second thought of really helping .
Master manipulators in there. Worked there a few years back and got a taste of just how these men really are behind that fence. Including the 2 mentioned in this story. I do not feel sorry for them one bit. They even prey on each other in there. Once you harm a child, that urge NEVER goes away. Keep them there where they belong.
Who says any of them actually “preyed” on children?
25 years ago, the story was child pornography was something pedophiles forced children to participate in. They had about 6000 pieces of child pornography on record.
Today, young people themselves make 10s of MILLIONS of pieces of “child pornography” only a tiny fraction of which trickles into the hands of pedophiles. It’s almost entirely children 10+ masturbating. The amount of child pornography is EXPLODING and there is practically nothing anyone can do about it because the state can’t arrest the biggest population of creators, the kids themselves.
But, given those facts, we’re all supposed to believe that all the children these men had sex with were brutally raped? Sorry I don’t believe it. Young people, younger than you would like to imagine are sexual. That’s why I doubt the official story here. For every true abuser, I bet 9 perfectly normal people get caught up in the system.
But I guess you don’t care about that. You’re probably one of those people who say “Who care’s if 9 good blacks get thrown in prison, so long as the superpredators get thrown in with them!”
Personally, can’t wait for BLM to visit your neighborhood and show you what’s up. Lots of people are ready for America to burn. One reason? COALIINGA.
Ive seen some horrible things in there as an employee. Ive been in the medical unit and there are some good staff and there are some assholes which idk why they took a job they would hate. The neglect in there is crazy. I seen where they put the dead bodies before they are picked up, ive witnessed how rude the staff are to these patients and ive seen how much shit they talk about a job they applied to. Ive heard also of staff beating up patients and the atopsy wondering why the patient had fractured ribs, contusions, etc. Those patients that are too old and those who cant speak, walk or think properly are the ones that are abused the most. Im sorry about your fathers passing despite of his criminal history, we are all human and only God can judge us.
I agree that once a person has paid their debts to society, that he should be a free man. No one should be detained for what they might do in the future. I think these facilities should be dismantled 100%
I agree! My dad severed his time. Then he was only suppose to be there [at the California shadow prison for] two years after severing his time. But the day was going to be released after serving double of his life, he died in their hands.
When I found out that they took him for X-rays, I talked to him. Never did I think that was going to be the last time I talked to my dad. I know in my heart that they killed him in there — there’s no proper medical help [in the shadow prison]. And I know he passed away of COVID-19.
He was a father of many children and we miss him every day. I think the men that did their time should have a second chance, because my dad didn’t.
P.S. MISS MY DAD Everyday. God help everyone in there!