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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cgang affiliated,\u201d which many detractors say is a euphemism for involvement in political activism.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The prisoners have five basic demands:<\/p>\n