Roughly 50-100 prisoners being held in the Secure Housing Unit of Pelican Bay State Prison are beginning a hunger strike on Friday, July 1 to protest what they say are acts of physical and psychological torture at the hands of prison officials and inhuman conditions in the SHU.
A prisoner can be put in the SHU indefinitely, where they are subjected to extended isolation and loss of basic privileges available to other inmates, on nothing more than word of an informant saying they are “gang affiliated,” which many detractors say is a euphemism for involvement in political activism.
There is no judicial due process or oversight and condemning a prisoner to the SHU takes only a decision by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The prisoners have five basic demands:
Elimination of group punishment
Prisoners can be put in the SHU without committing any actual infraction for alleged gang affiliation, active or otherwise.
Abolition of “debriefing” process
Currently, the only way to get out of the SHU is by “debriefing” or informing on other supposed gang members. These, often false, “confessions” are commonly used to condemn other prisoners to the SHU.
End of long-term solitary confinement
Prisoners claim that the guards are not complying with the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on Safety and Abuse in Prisons calling to “end conditions of isolation.”
Provide adequate food
Prisoners say that the guards are using food as a weapon against them, withholding it as punishment and not providing sanitary, nutritious meals.
Expand constructive programs
Prisoners want more opportunities for enrichment and education, in addition to basic human comforts like a weekly phone call and warm clothing, both of which they claim are currently denied them.
Several prisoners being held in Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison will also start refusing food on Friday in solidarity with the California strikers.
There are two rallies planned in support of the hunger strike; one at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 1 in front of the State Building at Van Ness and McAllister streets and another from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 9 at Civic Center’s UN Plaza.
Organizers are encouraging all supporters to consider fasting for at least a day in solidarity with the prisoners.
El Tecolote will be following the struggle of the Pelican Bay hunger strikers, so look for continued coverage in future print editions and online at www.eltecolote.org.