The California-wide hunger strike protesting the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) inhumane use of solitary confinement continues with one casualty.
According to a CDCR-issued press release, Billy Michael Sell died on July 27 of “suicide from strangulation, and in no relation to the hunger strike” in the single-cell Security Housing Unit (SHU) where he had been confined for years.
“No matter what the CDCR officially states, the fact that the United Nations recognizes 15 days or longer in solitary confinement as torture, indicates the torture Sell endured bears responsibility on the CDCR and its policies for his death,” said Isaac Ontiveros, of advocacy group Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity.
More than 560 inmates continued to refuse meals as of Monday, July 29, according to CDCR.
Ontiveros, in response to how many prisoners are still refusing meals, added: “The CDCR has a very, very strong investment in reporting the lowest possible numbers, and I’m sure any number they release will be understated.”
Ontiveros further describes this manipulation of information.
“CDCR also does not give the location of the strikers, which is a powerful propaganda tool used to keep medical personnel and families from knowing which prisons the remaining strikers are housed, and is simply a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.
On July 30, Ontiveros, along with advocacy group Families United, demonstrated in Sacramento at Gov. Jerry Brown’s office, whom he accuses of being “brutally silent on this issue.” After the rally, family members of the strikers marched to the CDCR headquarters.
A petition bearing 60,000 signatures demanding the end of solitary confinement was handed to an aide of Gov. Brown, who indicated that a meeting is scheduled later this week to begin negotiations with CDCR.
As this story goes to press, prisoners are facing 23 consecutive days of refusing meals in the ongoing hunger strike. Gov. Brown is currently on vacation.