Do you know what it’s like to start your days without ever seeing the sun? What would it be

Published 4 Nov 2025

Dolores Canales – Activist

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Solidarity in Confinement

Do you know what it’s like to start your days without ever seeing the sun? What would it be like to never catch a gust of fresh air? Thoughts such as these have brought Dolores Canales to tears. Most mornings are hard for her, as a mom, when she sees the morning sunlight. The sun she knows her son is not seeing; the wind she knows her son is not feeling.

Canales is a mother, an activist and she is formerly incarcerated. She is a women who exudes great empathy, understanding and courage. She knows what it’s like to lose, and also to experience the loss of others. She has been incarcerated and lived in a cell. She also knows the difference between right and wrong. Not being able to speak to, or hug her son for over a decade just felt wrong. Her son was housed in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State prison.

This is where Canales journey into advocacy and activism began. She mustered up the strength and bravery to take on the State of California! This propelled her to co-found California Families against Solitary Confinement (CFASC), in an attempt to gather support, embrace others in similar shoes, and push to change the barbaric practice of isolating those in the system.

In 2011, Canales played a key pivotal role during a hunger strike initiated by prisoners protesting the harsh conditions of endless SHU (special housing unit, which is still solitary confinement) programs that were nearly impossible to get out of. Traditionally, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) administrators placed those accused of gang affiliations into the SHU for an indeterminate period of time. These accusations, or STG “validations” as they are called within the prison system, often relied on confidential informants and circumstantial evidence, such as reading material (certain books about gang culture or racial ideology), drawings, tattoos, or associations with others. The only way out of the SHU was to debrief, parole or die.

These factors fueled her mission. She collaborated with other family members to amplify the voices of those inside, such as her son, to bring public attention to the cruel practices of solitary confinement within the CDCR. She was a go-between for many of the men trying to organize the hunger strike (which started in the SHU, but spread to 13 CA prisons). Canales picketed, protested and spoke out to news radio and TV stations.

Her relentless efforts contributed to significant reforms. By 2015, more than 500 people had been in the SHU for more than a decade! 78 people had been stuck in there for more than 20 years! Thanks in part to Canales efforts, California agreed to move thousands of prisoners out of solitary confinement and back into general population. This decision was also majorly encouraged by the solidarity between those incarcerated, sacrificing their nutrition, families, friends and activists on the outside all working together for change.

Beyond her advocacy, she has shared her personal experiences to highlight the emotional toll of solitary confinement. She revisited the profound moment of her first contact visit with her son after 15 years, where he finally got to share stories of the psychological torture and sensory deprivation he endure while isolated.

“Many of these prisoners have become translucent in skin color…actually a ghostly see (through), type of image. Many have lost their hearing because the only sounds they ever hear are those of the metal doors slamming shut. Many have poor eyesight because the only light they ever get is from the fluorescent lights…And it is known, many have been driven mad in an absolute state of nothingness!” Says Canales.

Also in 2015, the CDCR settled a massive class-action lawsuit challenging the use of indefinite solitary confinement.

In recent years, Canales has continued her activism, while also getting involved in lobbying. In 2023, she participated in efforts to pass the California Mandela Act, aiming to limit solitary confinement to no more than 15 consecutive days and no more than 45 days in a 180-day period, which passed that September. Despite facing challenges, including legislative delays, Canales will tell you that, “we’re not going anywhere” and that, “America must be held accountable because of the simple fact that we take pride in our human rights efforts in other countries, while we continue to justify the use of solitary confinement.”

Her dedication is inspiring. She has helped with three separate hunger strikes, has been protesting for years, and very literally has been a part of creating meaningful reform in the criminal justice system.

Canales eventually married one of the men involved in the initial SHU motivated hunger strike. His name is Jack Morris. He did 30 plus years of solitary time in the SHU. He is now out of prison and they were both in a documentary entitled, The Strike. Canales was also featured in a Netflix documentary entitled, The 13th. She is currently involved with California Women to Abolish Solitary Confinement (CWASC), Lives Worth Saving Gang Intervention (LWSGI), and is on the advisory board for California United for a Responsible Budget (CURB).