The first days of the hunger strike came and went without so much as a mention in such esteemed mainstream journals as the New York Times, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee or the San Jose Mercury News. Only the Los Angeles Times had a short report:
California prison officials say 30,000 inmates refuse meals
Inmates in two-thirds of the state's 33 prisons, and at all four out-of-state private prisons, refused both breakfast and lunch on Monday, said corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton. In addition, 2,300 prisoners failed to go to work or attend their prison classes, either refusing or in some cases saying they were sick.
Nonetheless word is getting out.
In pictures.
Los Angeles, 7/8/13
From the prisoners and their supporters themselves:
We are grateful for your support of our peaceful protest against the state-sanctioned torture that happens not only here at Pelican Bay but in prisons everywhere. We have taken up this hunger strike and work stoppage, which has included 30,000 prisoners in California so far, not only to improve our own conditions but also an act of solidarity with all prisoners and oppressed people around the world.
We encourage everyone to take action to support the strike wherever they live. Sign the petition demanding California Governor stop the torture; plan rolling solidarity fasts if you are able; use every means to spread the word; and participate in non-violent direct action to put pressure on decision-makers.
If it was not for your support, we would have died in 2011. Thank you everyone. We are confident we will prevail.
In Solidarity,
- Todd Ashker, C-58191, PBSP-SHU, D4-121
- Arturo Castellanos, C-17275, PBSP-SHU, D1-121
- Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa (Dewberry), C-35671, PBSP-SHU,D1-117
- Antonio Guillen, P-81948, PBSP-SHU, D2-106
The PBSP-SHU Short Corridor Representatives
Outside of the United States,
in Palestine
... several groups in Palestine have launched "days of action in support of the US hunger strikers in California," in a show of solidarity between Palestinian hunger strikers who have performed ongoing hunger strikes in Israeli prisons - calling for an end to "the similar methods of mass incarceration, abuse and torture inflicted upon them."
and in
The Guardian in the UK:
Prisoners refused meals for a second day on Tuesday in about two dozen jails, signalling what was thought to be the biggest protest of its kind in California's history.
The protest has united black, Latino and white inmates, including members of racist gangs. "It's phenomenal. They are coming together because they know in unity is where ultimate victory lies," said Dolores Canales, co-founder of California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement.
The start of the protest, though more than double the size of the previous one, has generated some local media attention but not made national headlines as yet.
In East Oakland (right), and in small papers around California like The Imperial Valley Press:
An unspecified number of inmates at both Calipatria and Centinela state prisons have joined an estimated total of 29,000 inmates statewide in a hunger strike. Inmates at two-thirds of the state's 33 prisons are said to be participating in the hunger strike, which started Monday.
In stories
about the hunger strikers...
As one of four inmates who call themselves the Short Corridor Collective, Jamaa was a key organizer of the hunger strike. The group of inmates drafted a list of core demands calling for the strike when they weren't met.
That was no easy task for Jamaa, who has spent most of the last 28 years alone in a windowless, 8-by-10 foot concrete cell in Pelican Bay State Prison...
Inmates held in solitary confinement... aren't supposed to communicate with each other, verbally or through the mail. But they were able to organize with the help of their lawyers, who they are allowed to communicate with, and prison reform advocates outside.
California Prison System Has no Place in Civilized Society
Today my loved one will start starving himself not because he wants to, but because he feels he has to, to stand in unity against injustice. He will refuse bland, colorless, tepid taxpayer-funded food that often includes stale bread, wilted lettuce and overcooked meat filler, served through a tiny slot in a perforated door on a dirty wet plastic tray. - See more at: http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/...
and in stories about
the background to the strike:
The snapshots are old and discolored, capturing the faces of men behind bars in California's vast penal system and those destined to enter it. Some are wide-eyed. Others cast hard stares. One inmate, a bony heroin addict dressed in baggy prison denim, stares submissively into the camera.
Dating back as far as the 1980s, the photographs would be unremarkable except for this detail: They were the last pictures of the men seen by their families and even by the prisoners themselves.
For a quarter-century, California outlawed personal photographs for inmates held in isolation in special security housing units.
In tweets.
And on Youtube
Trying to tell the world what has happened,
According to Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, the California prison system currently holds over 10,000 prisoners in solitary confinement units, "with dozens having spent more than 20 years each in isolation."
what continues to happen,
"The SHU conditions are torturous. They're not right. I don't want my tax money supporting it," said Bilal Ali, a speaker and organizer with the coalition. "
and what is needed for redress:
The Five Totally Reasonable Demands That Prisoners In California Are Willing To Die For
1. Eliminate group punishments.
2. Abolish the debriefing policy and modify active/inactive gang status criteria.
3. Comply with the recommendations of the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons (2006) regarding an end to longterm solitary confinement.
4. Provide adequate food.
5. Expand and provide constructive programs and privileges for indefinite SHU inmates.
Support is building:
Join us for a demonstration at Corcoran on Saturday July 13th! Rally will begin at 2pm at Cesar Chavez Part in Corcoran. 1500 Oregon Ave, Corcoran 93212 (right next to Mark Twain Elementary School).
If you need a ride or can offer a ride, please contact Rachel Herzing, rachel@criticalresistance.org or 510-444-0484 no later than July 10th.
Meet at MacArthur BART in Oakland at 9am to join the Norcal caravan. 555 40th St Oakland, CA 94609
Meet at Chucos Youth Justice Center in Inglewood at 9am to join the SoCal caravan. 1137 E Redondo Blvd Inglewood, CA 9030
Please Sign the Petition!