Prisoners from at least
six California prisons joined in with their brothers at Pelican Bay
State Prison in an indefinite hunger strike to demand an end to
substandard living conditions and perpetual isolation. The hunger
strike began July 1 when the prisoners in PBSP’s Security Housing
Unit refused to eat until the prison administration conceded to five
core demands. (“Pelican Bay prisoners on hunger strike against inhumane treatment”)
By the end of the
holiday weekend, general population and SHU prisoners in Corcoran,
Folsom, CCI Tehachapi, Calipatria and Centinela State Prisons in
California had joined the hunger strike as well.
A
statement released from Corcoran Prison’s SHU said, “It is
important for all to know Pelican Bay is not alone in this struggle
and the broader the participation and support for this hunger strike
and other such efforts, the greater the potential that our sacrifice
now will mean a more humane world for us in the future.”
Humane treatment and
living conditions among the prison population is a civil rights
issue. The majority of the prison population is comprised of poor and
working class people, disproportionately African American and Latino.
Instead of prisons, we need jobs, social services and education.
California spends more per capita on incarceration than it does on
education. It is in the interest of the majority of people—the
working class —to fight for the civil and human rights of our
brothers and sisters who are incarcerated under the most inhumane
circumstances.
Prison spokespeople
have underreported the number of hunger strikers in an attempt to
undermine the strength of the prisoners and sideline their just
demands in the mass media. “The CDCR [California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation] is not following its own protocol
around hunger strikes, but we have evidence that thousands of
prisoners across in at least six prisons in California could be
participating in the strike. We think that CDCR knows this and is
purposefully withholding information,” said Carol Strickman, staff
attorney at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and legal team
representative for Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity.
Let us stand in
solidarity with the courageous hunger strikers!
