A 275 acre California State Penitentiary located in Folsom, California. Was built for the sole purpose of housing California's most serious criminals in an extremely secure environment. Features a Level 4 Security Housing Unit which holds 1,300 of some of the most violent criminals in the United States. SHU inmates are guaranteed at least 23 1/2 hours a day in solitary confinement. It is arguably the most notorious prison in the United States today, due to the fact that there are 1,600 Level 4 GP (general population) inmates that are mostly gang members, and they have no problems killing rival inmates and guards.

the Secure Housing Unit (SHU for short), or isolation facility of a maximum security prison.

While technically, SHU can be used to describe any prison's isolation facility, it commonly refers to the unit of the Pelican Bay State Prison ("Pelican Bay"), located in Folsom, California.

The term SHU (pronounced "SHOE") alludes to the housing unit itself and/or the Draconian policies that comprise its operations program. The goal of the program is to "monitor, control and isolate" about 1,200 of the most volatile and dangerous inmates in the California prison system.

When compared to the freedoms and luxuries enjoyed by minimum to medium-security offenders (visitors, T.V. and telephone privileges, uncensored mail, etc.), or even to the generally restrictive standards of maximum security inmates housed in the general population, the SHU is considered oppressive:

All inmates are kept in solitary confinement (a.k.a. lockdown.) Housed in cells (called pods) made of solid concrete, they make communication with others virtually impossible.

Prisoners are on

Nickname for Pelican Bay State Prison, the California DOC maximum-security facility.

The most northern infection caused by spore cast from Los Angeles.

The most northern harbor on the coast of California. Also, one of the most low-lying and smallest county seats in the state, the seat of Del Norte County. It holds the questionable distinctions of suffering more from tsunami than any other city in the 48 contiguous United States and being the locale of Pelican Bay.

a specific set of the crip's street gang, most commonly associtated with the pelican bay prison crips.

An increment of time, lengthy in nature.