Source: Sharon Danann, in: Workers World
Published Jul 27, 2011 4:22 PM
Leaders of the hunger strike in the Security Housing Unit at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison accepted an offer July 20 from the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation and have ended their weeks-long action. Members of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition confirmed reports of the hunger strike’s end after speaking with some of the prisoners involved. (prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com, July 22) The CDCR reported that as of 1 p.m. on July 20 all those who had been fasting at Pelican Bay had resumed eating. (www.sfgate.com, July 22)
Having been without food for 21 days, the leaders opted to “live to fight for justice another day,” according to mediator Dorsey Nunn. (times-standard.com, July 22) The CDCR offer included expanded educational programs, wall calendars and all-weather caps. The CDCR also committed to a review of SHU and gang-related policies.
A key accomplishment of the hunger strike has been to bring attention to the issue of torture in U.S. prisons. Currently inmates at Pelican Bay cannot be transferred out of their confinement in the SHU unless they turn in someone else for gang-related activities. Prisoners opposed to doing so on principle or in fear of retribution, or who have no such information, including those in the SHU for political beliefs, have been locked in SHUs indefinitely. Black Panther members incarcerated in the 1970s are among the inmates who have spent decades in isolation.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture has stated that long-term solitary confinement is in violation of prohibitions against torture, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Supporters of the courageous prisoners continued to hit the streets with rallies July 22 and 23 in Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Chino, Calif.; and in Los Angeles, Chicago and Montreal. Plans are going forward for a march on CDCR headquarters in Sacramento, Calif.; a rally at the California State building in San Francisco; and a meeting with family members and loved ones of prisoners in Oakland.
High-spirited activists marched up the quarter-mile driveway of Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Ohio, on July 23, drumming on paint buckets and pots, until they were turned back by guards near the gate to the Supermax. In Baltimore on July 21, the blazing heat did not stop protesters outside the city jail from drawing support from passersby, who responded positively to the “Jobs not jails” theme.
Struggle against torture continues
The hunger strike has continued at three California state prisons. More than 400 inmates are refusing food at Corcoran and more than 100 at Tehachapi. The PHSS blog quoted a friend of a Calipatria prison hunger striker as saying, “I’m 100 percent sure that at least 300 prisoners are still supporting each other and going strong, refusing food and demanding the CDCR change conditions of solitary confinement and policies around gang validation.” (July 20)
According to a spokesperson for the court-appointed receiver overseeing prison health care, an inmate at Tehachapi had lost 29 pounds. (Los Angeles Times, July 19) The CDCR claimed to be medically monitoring 49 prisoners who had lost more than 10 pounds, but prisoner advocates disputed both the numbers and the quality of medical attention, most of which was “drive-by checks.” (PHSS conference call, July 18)
The PHSS was aware of “dozens” of hunger strikers who had lost over 20 pounds and who were experiencing fainting or irregular heartbeats. Nunn stated that the prison hospital at Pelican Bay was filled with inmates receiving fluids by IV. Some had “started to refuse water,” but many others were having trouble keeping ingested water down. Nunn added, “It is truly a matter of luck and/or untiring spirit that nobody has died so far.” (colorlines.com, July 20)
PHSS is encouraging solidarity actions to continue to make sure the CDCR makes good on its promises and to prevent retaliation against hunger strikers. Hunger strikers not in SHUs have been thrown in solitary as punishment for acts of solidarity. (PHSS blog, July 22)
This historic hunger strike of 6,600 inmates, uniting without regard to race, religion, ethnicity or group affiliation, has inspired prisoners and supporters to new acts of courage and defiance. Support the California hunger strikers and build the prisoners’ movement everywhere!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
It’s Not Over! Support Still Needed!
We need to keep up the pressure and support, because the CDCR is just trying to get the hungerstrike and the news about the deplorable, torturous conditions out of the media.
We need to make sure the CDCR is doing what it said it shall do.
July 22nd 2011
From: Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
Mediators from Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity’s Mediation team spoke with the Short Corridor Collective, four representatives of the hunger strike leaders at Pelican Bay and confirmed the leaders have accepted an offer from the CDCR.
When this news was announced at a vigil in Oakland last night, one family member responded: “I’m not going to believe it until my son tells me so.” She will be seeing him at Pelican Bay this weekend.
According to family members and friends of prisoners, as well as the CDCR, hunger strikers continue to refuse food across CA– in at least CCI Tehachapi, Corcoran and Calipatria. It is unclear how long they will continue, if they are aware of the agreement or even believe given the misinformation CDCR has been circulating. As families and friends gear up for another round of weekend visits, we will have more information as to whether hunger strikers will continue protesting CDCR’s policies and conditions in the coming days.
The leaders confirmed CDCR’s announcement that immediate changes in SHU policy are the opportunity for some educational programs, provision of all-weather caps (beanies) and wall calendars. More substantially, the leaders explained the CDCR has agreed to investigate changes to other policies including the gang validation and debriefing processes, and it is now up to supporters outside prison to make sure the CDCR upholds their promise.
Many supporters, as well as the Pelican Bay hunger strike leaders, see this as a victory. The leaders explained to the mediation team they are overwhelmed by the support and solidarity of family members, community members, organizations, and people across the world joining their fight for human rights, and cannot adequately express their appreciation. They also explained this is in no way over. Using a sports reference, the Short Corridor Collective insisted: “this is just the first quarter,” and what a start it has been.
Read the rest here.
Also see this article in the SF Bay View:
Hunger strikes and national protests continue
July 22nd 2011
Protesting torture in America continues in and out of prisons
BACK TO SAC ON MONDAY! The hunger strike continues in Tehachapi, Corcoran and Calipatria state prisons, so we’ll keep the pressure on CDCR and Gov. Jerry Brown!
On Monday, July 25, noon-4 p.m., prisoners’ families and supporters will meet in Sacramento, at Fremont Park, 15th & Q, at 11:30 a.m.; march to CDCR headquarters, 1515 S St., rally noon-2 p.m.; march to State Building to deliver organizational letter to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office 2-4 p.m. RIDE-SHARE West Oakland BART 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile, keep calling CDCR and Gov. Brown demanding more humane treatment of prisoners across California.
by Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner
The historical prisoner hunger strike led by 11 now “shrunken” but alive Pelican Bay Prison inmates advocating human rights, peace and justice continues according to officials, prisoners’ families and prisoner attorney Marilyn McMahon of California Prison Focus, despite announcements Thursday that it ended. Prison officials acknowledge that prisoners for the fourth week are refusing food numbers in the hundreds. Advocates say the number could be in the thousands after California Department of Corrections (CDC) negotiated a token agreement pertaining only to Pelican Bay.
For hours after announcements that the strike ended, communications flying between frustrated reporters recently banned from California prisons, attorneys and family members of prisoners concluded a twofold analysis. The strike ended at Pelican Bay Prison, but until the five core demands are met there, strike leaders’ message to the public is to continue national protests. Secondly, since Thursday’s “token agreement” only pertained to Pelican Bay, the spiraled strike at up to 15 other prisons continues.
A message to the public from the 11 strike leaders was issued by attorney Marilyn McMahon at 7 p.m. PST, Thursday, during a World Can’t Wait teleconference with 15 prisoner advocates and reporters across the nation. Hunger strike leaders had just requested that McMahon relay the public message that the sole reason they got this far is due to “outside actions.” They said they need the “outside movement to continue to make sure the agreement is kept,” especially related to “isolation units.”
According to McMahon, only a “few token gestures have been made by officials” and “people are still being tortured in America.”
California Prison Focus issued a statement late Thursday confirming hunger strike leaders at Pelican Bay entered into an agreement with CDCR officials “to end their hunger strike in exchange for a major policy review of SHU housing conditions, gang validation process and debriefing process.”
Among “over 7,000 prisoners” hunger striking since July 1, 17 Pelican Bay prisoners are in the “worst” shape, having lost 20 to 35 pounds, McMahon said. Strike leaders told her Thursday that they all look “shrunken.”
“They are amazingly mentally clear,” she said. “Many people in the SHU are political prisoners. The only chance they have to ever touch their babies is to debrief.”
Debriefing involves snitching on another inmate, denouncing him as a gang member. This automatically results in exoneration of the snitcher and condemnation of the target. The target is then transferred, with no other evidence, to a Security Housing Unit (SHU) for 23 hours per day of indefinite solitary confinement, putting an end to contact with children and other family members that predictably results in mental injury. Some have been in the SHU for 30 years, according to McMahon.
Among prison protesters’ five core demands is ending the debriefing policy, as reported by LA Times.
Official count of prisoners still refusing food
Hours after announcing the historical hunger strike ended at Pelican Bay, CDC officials acknowledged that over 500 inmates continued to refuse meals at three other state prisons: “More than 400 at the California State Prison in Corcoran … more than 100 at California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi [and] about 29 at Calipatria State Prison,” according to prison spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
LA Times reported that the Pelican Bay inmates “agreed to resume eating in exchange for ‘cold-weather caps, wall calendars and some educational opportunities,’” according to a statement by CDC Secretary Matthew Cate on Thursday morning.
Thornton, who called the strikers a “moving target,” stated that many hunger strikers accepted meals at varying points during the three-week protest, but, as family members have gone on record stating, some prison officials were telling prisoners days ago that the strike ended.
Thornton also stated that about 110 inmates “continuously refused state issued food from July 1 through yesterday,” July 20, the day before the Pelican Bay prison strike officially ended.
Seventeen inmates with “early symptoms of starvation” were moved from Pelican Bay to Corcoran Prison to ensure “sufficient and appropriate medical resources” for treatment if they continued striking, said Nancy Kincaid, spokeswoman for the federal receiver overseeing prison healthcare.
Torture in California prisons can end, Gov. Jerry Brown
CDC used cruel actions to end the strike, according to Carol Strickman, a staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and staff to the mediation team representing the hunger strikers.
For the rest, with links, please go to: SF Bay View.
-------------
More news via Email:
Bay Area rides to Sacramento, California action...
lisa@criticalresistance.org Fri, July 22, 2011 5:55:42 PM Subject: MONDAY: The strike continues! Mobilize to CDCR!
As many of you have heard, the Short Corridor Collective at Pelican Bay have ended their hunger strike and have declared it a success! Their courageous act of refusing to eat for 4 weeks has successfully put the issues of torturous isolation units and California's abominable debriefing program in the international & national media, it has boosted a growing movement for the rights of prisoners, and is unifying prisoners of different racial groups for a struggle against their real and shared enemies: the unfair policies and practices of CDCR.
Many of you also know that the hunger strike continues in Tehachapi, Corcoran, and Calipatria State Prisons.
We must continue to put pressure on CDCR and Governor Jerry Brown!
On Monday, 7/25 from noon-4pm in Sacramento, family members, community based organizations, and community members from around the state are mobilizing to support the ongoing California Prisoner Hunger Strike!
Meet in Sacramento at Fremont Park (on 15th St., b/w Q & P Streets) @ 11:30am.
March to CDCR headquarters (1515 S. Street) and rally from noon-2pm.
March to State Building to deliver organizational letter to Governor Jerry Brown's office from 2-4pm.
*Please note that this will be a PEACEFUL, non-arrestable action.
Please take the time to forward this email to all of your contacts, and continue to call CDCR and Governor Brown demanding more humane treatment of prisoners across California.
For more information, please check the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Blog or call (510) 444-0484.
BAY AREA Ride-share: Meet at West Oakland BART at 9:30am, rides will be leaving at 10am. If you have a car & want to offer rides, or if you need a ride, please contact Lisa Roellig:lisaroellig@gmail.com 415-238-1801 (cell).
Thank you for your continued support!
In Struggle,
Lisa Marie Alatorre for Critical Resistance
------------
On July 23rd a great relly was organized in Ohio at the Ohio State Penitentiary in support of the California Hunger Strikers' Demands. In that prison in Youngstown, those prisoners known as the "Lucasville 5" went on hungerstrike in January of this year to successfully challenge the conditions there. They are in full support of the California hunger strikers and are eeager to hear about the situation.
Finally:
Some gains so far:
- While the CDCR vigorously dehumanizes prisoners, and refused to negotiate, saying (“we don’t negotiate with prisoners”), they were effectively forced into offering an agreement to make changes;
- this historic strike has demanded everyone who is against torture in any way to recognize prisoners as human beings, to act on their beliefs that no one should ever be tortured;
- this historic hunger strike has widened and intensified international scrutiny into prison conditions and policies in California, and around the United States, as well as solidarity in intervening in CDCR “business as usual.” According to Terry Thorton, spokesperson for CDCR, this strike was “a major disruption to CDCR’s normal operations” (i.e. of control, isolation and torture);
- this historic strike has (re)inspired prisoners to work together in struggling for their humanity to be recognized;
- this historic strike has proven to family members, former prisoners, advocates, lawyers, faith-based and religious groups, medical professionals, and community members and organizations that we can and need to continue to work together better in the struggle to change the conditions we live in, and to transform the devastation and disappearance prisons cause in our communities
- this historic strike has re-invigorated rigorous and collective prisoner-led resistance in the US.
We need to make sure the CDCR is doing what it said it shall do.
July 22nd 2011
From: Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
Mediators from Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity’s Mediation team spoke with the Short Corridor Collective, four representatives of the hunger strike leaders at Pelican Bay and confirmed the leaders have accepted an offer from the CDCR.
When this news was announced at a vigil in Oakland last night, one family member responded: “I’m not going to believe it until my son tells me so.” She will be seeing him at Pelican Bay this weekend.
According to family members and friends of prisoners, as well as the CDCR, hunger strikers continue to refuse food across CA– in at least CCI Tehachapi, Corcoran and Calipatria. It is unclear how long they will continue, if they are aware of the agreement or even believe given the misinformation CDCR has been circulating. As families and friends gear up for another round of weekend visits, we will have more information as to whether hunger strikers will continue protesting CDCR’s policies and conditions in the coming days.
The leaders confirmed CDCR’s announcement that immediate changes in SHU policy are the opportunity for some educational programs, provision of all-weather caps (beanies) and wall calendars. More substantially, the leaders explained the CDCR has agreed to investigate changes to other policies including the gang validation and debriefing processes, and it is now up to supporters outside prison to make sure the CDCR upholds their promise.
Many supporters, as well as the Pelican Bay hunger strike leaders, see this as a victory. The leaders explained to the mediation team they are overwhelmed by the support and solidarity of family members, community members, organizations, and people across the world joining their fight for human rights, and cannot adequately express their appreciation. They also explained this is in no way over. Using a sports reference, the Short Corridor Collective insisted: “this is just the first quarter,” and what a start it has been.
Read the rest here.
Also see this article in the SF Bay View:
Hunger strikes and national protests continue
July 22nd 2011
Protesting torture in America continues in and out of prisons
BACK TO SAC ON MONDAY! The hunger strike continues in Tehachapi, Corcoran and Calipatria state prisons, so we’ll keep the pressure on CDCR and Gov. Jerry Brown!
On Monday, July 25, noon-4 p.m., prisoners’ families and supporters will meet in Sacramento, at Fremont Park, 15th & Q, at 11:30 a.m.; march to CDCR headquarters, 1515 S St., rally noon-2 p.m.; march to State Building to deliver organizational letter to Gov. Jerry Brown’s office 2-4 p.m. RIDE-SHARE West Oakland BART 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile, keep calling CDCR and Gov. Brown demanding more humane treatment of prisoners across California.
by Deborah Dupre, Human Rights Examiner
The historical prisoner hunger strike led by 11 now “shrunken” but alive Pelican Bay Prison inmates advocating human rights, peace and justice continues according to officials, prisoners’ families and prisoner attorney Marilyn McMahon of California Prison Focus, despite announcements Thursday that it ended. Prison officials acknowledge that prisoners for the fourth week are refusing food numbers in the hundreds. Advocates say the number could be in the thousands after California Department of Corrections (CDC) negotiated a token agreement pertaining only to Pelican Bay.
For hours after announcements that the strike ended, communications flying between frustrated reporters recently banned from California prisons, attorneys and family members of prisoners concluded a twofold analysis. The strike ended at Pelican Bay Prison, but until the five core demands are met there, strike leaders’ message to the public is to continue national protests. Secondly, since Thursday’s “token agreement” only pertained to Pelican Bay, the spiraled strike at up to 15 other prisons continues.
A message to the public from the 11 strike leaders was issued by attorney Marilyn McMahon at 7 p.m. PST, Thursday, during a World Can’t Wait teleconference with 15 prisoner advocates and reporters across the nation. Hunger strike leaders had just requested that McMahon relay the public message that the sole reason they got this far is due to “outside actions.” They said they need the “outside movement to continue to make sure the agreement is kept,” especially related to “isolation units.”
According to McMahon, only a “few token gestures have been made by officials” and “people are still being tortured in America.”
California Prison Focus issued a statement late Thursday confirming hunger strike leaders at Pelican Bay entered into an agreement with CDCR officials “to end their hunger strike in exchange for a major policy review of SHU housing conditions, gang validation process and debriefing process.”
Among “over 7,000 prisoners” hunger striking since July 1, 17 Pelican Bay prisoners are in the “worst” shape, having lost 20 to 35 pounds, McMahon said. Strike leaders told her Thursday that they all look “shrunken.”
“They are amazingly mentally clear,” she said. “Many people in the SHU are political prisoners. The only chance they have to ever touch their babies is to debrief.”
Debriefing involves snitching on another inmate, denouncing him as a gang member. This automatically results in exoneration of the snitcher and condemnation of the target. The target is then transferred, with no other evidence, to a Security Housing Unit (SHU) for 23 hours per day of indefinite solitary confinement, putting an end to contact with children and other family members that predictably results in mental injury. Some have been in the SHU for 30 years, according to McMahon.
Among prison protesters’ five core demands is ending the debriefing policy, as reported by LA Times.
Official count of prisoners still refusing food
Hours after announcing the historical hunger strike ended at Pelican Bay, CDC officials acknowledged that over 500 inmates continued to refuse meals at three other state prisons: “More than 400 at the California State Prison in Corcoran … more than 100 at California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi [and] about 29 at Calipatria State Prison,” according to prison spokeswoman Terry Thornton.
LA Times reported that the Pelican Bay inmates “agreed to resume eating in exchange for ‘cold-weather caps, wall calendars and some educational opportunities,’” according to a statement by CDC Secretary Matthew Cate on Thursday morning.
Thornton, who called the strikers a “moving target,” stated that many hunger strikers accepted meals at varying points during the three-week protest, but, as family members have gone on record stating, some prison officials were telling prisoners days ago that the strike ended.
Thornton also stated that about 110 inmates “continuously refused state issued food from July 1 through yesterday,” July 20, the day before the Pelican Bay prison strike officially ended.
Seventeen inmates with “early symptoms of starvation” were moved from Pelican Bay to Corcoran Prison to ensure “sufficient and appropriate medical resources” for treatment if they continued striking, said Nancy Kincaid, spokeswoman for the federal receiver overseeing prison healthcare.
Torture in California prisons can end, Gov. Jerry Brown
CDC used cruel actions to end the strike, according to Carol Strickman, a staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and staff to the mediation team representing the hunger strikers.
For the rest, with links, please go to: SF Bay View.
-------------
More news via Email:
Bay Area rides to Sacramento, California action...
lisa@criticalresistance.org Fri, July 22, 2011 5:55:42 PM Subject: MONDAY: The strike continues! Mobilize to CDCR!
As many of you have heard, the Short Corridor Collective at Pelican Bay have ended their hunger strike and have declared it a success! Their courageous act of refusing to eat for 4 weeks has successfully put the issues of torturous isolation units and California's abominable debriefing program in the international & national media, it has boosted a growing movement for the rights of prisoners, and is unifying prisoners of different racial groups for a struggle against their real and shared enemies: the unfair policies and practices of CDCR.
Many of you also know that the hunger strike continues in Tehachapi, Corcoran, and Calipatria State Prisons.
We must continue to put pressure on CDCR and Governor Jerry Brown!
On Monday, 7/25 from noon-4pm in Sacramento, family members, community based organizations, and community members from around the state are mobilizing to support the ongoing California Prisoner Hunger Strike!
Meet in Sacramento at Fremont Park (on 15th St., b/w Q & P Streets) @ 11:30am.
March to CDCR headquarters (1515 S. Street) and rally from noon-2pm.
March to State Building to deliver organizational letter to Governor Jerry Brown's office from 2-4pm.
*Please note that this will be a PEACEFUL, non-arrestable action.
Please take the time to forward this email to all of your contacts, and continue to call CDCR and Governor Brown demanding more humane treatment of prisoners across California.
For more information, please check the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Blog or call (510) 444-0484.
BAY AREA Ride-share: Meet at West Oakland BART at 9:30am, rides will be leaving at 10am. If you have a car & want to offer rides, or if you need a ride, please contact Lisa Roellig:lisaroellig@gmail.com 415-238-1801 (cell).
Thank you for your continued support!
In Struggle,
Lisa Marie Alatorre for Critical Resistance
------------
On July 23rd a great relly was organized in Ohio at the Ohio State Penitentiary in support of the California Hunger Strikers' Demands. In that prison in Youngstown, those prisoners known as the "Lucasville 5" went on hungerstrike in January of this year to successfully challenge the conditions there. They are in full support of the California hunger strikers and are eeager to hear about the situation.
Finally:
Some gains so far:
- While the CDCR vigorously dehumanizes prisoners, and refused to negotiate, saying (“we don’t negotiate with prisoners”), they were effectively forced into offering an agreement to make changes;
- this historic strike has demanded everyone who is against torture in any way to recognize prisoners as human beings, to act on their beliefs that no one should ever be tortured;
- this historic hunger strike has widened and intensified international scrutiny into prison conditions and policies in California, and around the United States, as well as solidarity in intervening in CDCR “business as usual.” According to Terry Thorton, spokesperson for CDCR, this strike was “a major disruption to CDCR’s normal operations” (i.e. of control, isolation and torture);
- this historic strike has (re)inspired prisoners to work together in struggling for their humanity to be recognized;
- this historic strike has proven to family members, former prisoners, advocates, lawyers, faith-based and religious groups, medical professionals, and community members and organizations that we can and need to continue to work together better in the struggle to change the conditions we live in, and to transform the devastation and disappearance prisons cause in our communities
- this historic strike has re-invigorated rigorous and collective prisoner-led resistance in the US.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Pelican Bay Prisoner Hunger Strike: Prison Staff Not Following Medical Protocol
From: FireDogLake:
By: Kevin Gosztola Tuesday July 19, 2011 11:33 am
(photo: Image by Rashid Johnson (Red Onion Prison in Virginia) in support of CA hunger strikers)
Prisoners engaged in a hunger strike at Pelican Bay supermax prison have been on strike for more than fifteen days now. With a growing group of supporters on the outside, the strike against solitary confinement and other conditions in the prison has spread to at least thirteen other prisons. But, those providing support for the prisoners are concerned about the deteriorating physical conditions of the prisoners and whether the prison will be able to provide the prisoners with proper medical care.
Carol Strickman, staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and staff to the mediation team representing the hunger strikers, reports medical protocol is not being followed. They are supposed to be doing “daily assessments after two days and that includes weighing, physical condition, emotional condition, vital signs (such as blood pressure) and hydration status.
“We know that these things are not happening, either at all or sporadically,” says Strickman.
Scales for weighing prisoners are not synchronized and sometimes the prison staff weighs prisoners with chains and sometimes without chains. So, the accuracy of information is questionable right now. Additionally, the doctors are supposed to be performing physical exams. Strickman reports, instead of providing physical exams, “The medical staff is doing what I have been told are called drive-by exams, where they stand outside the door with no physical contact and just ask if people are okay, which is basically saying, ‘Are you alive?’”
Strickman further reports “medications are being eliminated entirely or reduced.” Multivitamins and salt tablets were to be provided to prisoners. Prisoners were given a sheet of medical advice on what to do during the strike. Yet, none of the prisoners have been provided with any tablets.
There are reports of weight loss as high as twenty-five to thirty-five pounds. There are also reports of untreated blood pressure, a prisoner falling off a bunk and hitting his head and diabetics being put on IV drips.
A number of prisoners have signed an “advanced directive form” indicating when they can no longer communicate they would like to not be resuscitated.
“Many of these prisoners are older and have pre-existing conditions such as advanced lymphoma, congestive heart failure, hypertensive disease, debilitating muscle disease and so on,” Strickman explains. “So for all these reasons every day the situation is becoming more critical.”
News of deterioration of prisoners’ health may lead one to suggest that is what a prisoner gets for engaging in hunger striking or prisoner resistance activity. That may be true, but there is a callousness and inhumanity to such a statement. The prisoners have five core demands and, according to Molly Porzig, Critical Resistance representative in the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition, they are asking for “incredibly standard” and “basic” adjustments to prison policy.
“The changes in policies and procedures that the prisoners are demanding are standards in other supermax prisons, like Florence, Colorado, and in Ohio,” explains Porzig. “Or, they refer to policy change that have already been recommended, promised or offered but never actually implemented.”
These five core demands, for those unaware, are the following: end group punishment and administrative abuse, abolish the “debriefing” process [the practice of offering up information about fellow prisoners in return for better food or release from the SHU] and modify active/inactive gang status criteria, end long-term solitary confinement and comply with US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 recommendations, provide adequate and nutritious food and expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU status inmates.
On how organizing in support of the prison began, Porzig shares in the spring prisoners contacted prisoner advocacy organization in the Bay Area to form a coalition. They wanted people to do “widespread media and legal visits,” a coalition that would amplify the voices of prisoners during the hunger strike.
Porzig details some of the challenges faced thus far:
Some challenges so far to [organizing support] have obviously been the prison system itself. And, there are many obstacles with the extreme surveillance of information. But, for the most part, we’ve been getting our information from friends and loved ones who have been visiting during weekend visits and also some legal visits. Most of the legal visits have been happening at Pelican Bay.
Porzig says that how this has spread across thirteen prisons has been great but organizers have been incapable of providing support to the twelve other prisoner strikes now going on in solidarity.
Yesterday, a major demonstration took place outside of California Deparment of Corrections and Rehabilitation headquarters in Sacramento. Hundreds of people showed up to confront CDCR, which has engaged in some mediation with representatives of the prisoner strike but not offered anything meaningful that would lead prisoners to abandon the strike.
The prisoners were given a draft of a proposal for a settlement last week. They decided the suggestion of being willing to do a review of prison policy was not substantial enough and that CDCR was not acting in good faith. CDCR has said it does not negotiate prisoners, according to prison solidarity organizers. It has indicated it is intent on breaking the strike and even consulted with an individual from Pennsylvania, Jeffrey Beard, who has a history of cracking down on prison activists in correctional facilities.
Jeff Kaye and this author have pointed out how prisoners in Pelican Bay are subjected to a prison regime that is similar to the regime detainees face at Guantanamo Bay.
Guantanamo Bay prisoners have engaged in hunger strikes before and have been broken by force-feeding prisoners—a brutal tactic for breaking resistance that is tantamount to torture.
Strickman says on the possibility of prison staff employing this brutal tactic to end the strike:
CDCR does not seem to be gearing up for force-feeding. They are saying that this is a question of choice and has distributed two forms seeking people to state their choice. I think CDCR is fine with them dying.However, Strickman says she fears:
…people who are requesting “medical care” if they become unconscious, which means “force feeding” — (method is liquid fed through nasal tube) but itcannot be done in Pelican Bay SP because the small clinic is not licensed to do it. CDCR has told us they will transport prisoners who need significant medical care to Corcoran, which is many hours away. They say they have lined up buses. But will the unconscious prisoner who wants to be given food in this way get there in time?
CDCR is already doing many things to break the strike: special meal on 7/4, spreading lies that the strike is over, talking to prisoners one by one to persuade them to end their own individual fast, trying to persuade leaders to call an end to the strike, trying to persuade the mediation team to tell the leaders to end the strike, withholding medication because of not eating, preventing information from getting into the prison via mail, radio, threatening to ship leaders out of PB, etc.
"The Situation is Grave and Urgent": Prisoners Strike Against Torture in California Prisons
From: Counterpunch, July 19th 2011
By MARJORIE COHN
The torture of prisoners in U.S. custody isn’t confined to foreign countries. For more than two weeks, inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison have been on a hunger strike to protest torturous conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) there. Prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement, which can amount to torture. Thousands of inmates throughout California’s prison system have refused food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay prisoners, bringing the total of hunger strikers to more than 1,700.
Inmates in the SHU are confined to their cells for 22 ½ hours a day, mostly for administrative convenience. They are released for only one hour to walk in a small area with high walls. The cells in the SHU are eight feet by 10 feet with no windows. Flourescent lights are often kept on 24 hours per day.
Solitary confinement can lead to hallucinations, catatonia and even suicide, particularly in mentally ill prisoners. It is considered torture, as journalist Lance Tapley explains in his chapter on American Supermax prisons in The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse.
The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons (CSAAP), which is headed by a former U.S. attorney general and a former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, found: “People who pose no real threat to anyone and also those who are mentally ill are languishing for months or years in high-security units.” The commission also stated, “In some places, the environment is so severe that people end up completely isolated, confined in constantly bright or constantly dim spaces without any meaningful contact – torturous condition that are proven to cause mental deterioration.”
Prisoners in other California prisons have reported that medications, including those for high blood pressure and other serious conditions, are being withheld from prisoners on strike. “The situation is grave and urgent,” according to Carol Strickman, a lawyer for the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition. “We are fighting to prevent a lot of deaths at Pelican Bay. The CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] needs to negotiate with these prisoners, and honor the request of the strike leaders to have access to outside mediators to ensure that any negotiations are in good faith.”
One of the hunger strike demands is an end to the “debriefing process” at Pelican Bay. Prisoners are forced to name themselves or others as gang members as a condition of access to food or release from isolation. Naming others as gang members itself amounts to a death sentence due to retaliation by other prisoners.
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that incarceration in California prisons constitutes unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, past president of the National Lawyers Guild, and deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Her latest book is “The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse” (NYU Press).
By MARJORIE COHN
The torture of prisoners in U.S. custody isn’t confined to foreign countries. For more than two weeks, inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison have been on a hunger strike to protest torturous conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) there. Prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement, which can amount to torture. Thousands of inmates throughout California’s prison system have refused food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay prisoners, bringing the total of hunger strikers to more than 1,700.
Inmates in the SHU are confined to their cells for 22 ½ hours a day, mostly for administrative convenience. They are released for only one hour to walk in a small area with high walls. The cells in the SHU are eight feet by 10 feet with no windows. Flourescent lights are often kept on 24 hours per day.
Solitary confinement can lead to hallucinations, catatonia and even suicide, particularly in mentally ill prisoners. It is considered torture, as journalist Lance Tapley explains in his chapter on American Supermax prisons in The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse.
The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons (CSAAP), which is headed by a former U.S. attorney general and a former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, found: “People who pose no real threat to anyone and also those who are mentally ill are languishing for months or years in high-security units.” The commission also stated, “In some places, the environment is so severe that people end up completely isolated, confined in constantly bright or constantly dim spaces without any meaningful contact – torturous condition that are proven to cause mental deterioration.”
Prisoners in other California prisons have reported that medications, including those for high blood pressure and other serious conditions, are being withheld from prisoners on strike. “The situation is grave and urgent,” according to Carol Strickman, a lawyer for the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition. “We are fighting to prevent a lot of deaths at Pelican Bay. The CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] needs to negotiate with these prisoners, and honor the request of the strike leaders to have access to outside mediators to ensure that any negotiations are in good faith.”
One of the hunger strike demands is an end to the “debriefing process” at Pelican Bay. Prisoners are forced to name themselves or others as gang members as a condition of access to food or release from isolation. Naming others as gang members itself amounts to a death sentence due to retaliation by other prisoners.
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that incarceration in California prisons constitutes unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.
Marjorie Cohn is a professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, past president of the National Lawyers Guild, and deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. Her latest book is “The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse” (NYU Press).
Dying for Sunlight - by Mumia Abu Jamal
DYING FOR SUNLIGHT (MP3)
a commentary by
MUMIA ABU JAMAL
July 15, 2011
Today, at the notorious California super-maximum prison, Pelican Bay, hundreds of prisoners are on a hunger strike. As of July 1, 2011 a number of men ceased eating state meals in protest of horrendously long-term confinement, government repression, lack of programs and the hated gang affiliation rules.
According to California Prison Focus, the health of some the men are dangerously deteriorating. Some have ceased drinking, as well as eating and haven’t urinated in days. Some are threatened by renal failure, which can result in death.
Why? The demands of the strikers seem relatively tame, which gives us some insight into the level of repression. The five core demands are:
1. Individual instead of group responsibility.
2. Abolition of the “gang-debriefing” policy, which endangers both those who debrief and/or their families.
3. An end to long-term solitary confinement.
4. Adequate food, and
5. Constructive programs, such as art, phone privileges and the like.
A sub-demand is adequate natural sunlight – sunlight. There are few things more torturous than dying by starvation. These men are killing themselves potentially for fresh air and sunlight, and about a third of California prisoners, 11 out of 33 prisons, have joined them.
Contact the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition to find out how to support this effort for human rights. On the web at: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu Jamal.
a commentary by
MUMIA ABU JAMAL
July 15, 2011
Today, at the notorious California super-maximum prison, Pelican Bay, hundreds of prisoners are on a hunger strike. As of July 1, 2011 a number of men ceased eating state meals in protest of horrendously long-term confinement, government repression, lack of programs and the hated gang affiliation rules.
According to California Prison Focus, the health of some the men are dangerously deteriorating. Some have ceased drinking, as well as eating and haven’t urinated in days. Some are threatened by renal failure, which can result in death.
Why? The demands of the strikers seem relatively tame, which gives us some insight into the level of repression. The five core demands are:
1. Individual instead of group responsibility.
2. Abolition of the “gang-debriefing” policy, which endangers both those who debrief and/or their families.
3. An end to long-term solitary confinement.
4. Adequate food, and
5. Constructive programs, such as art, phone privileges and the like.
A sub-demand is adequate natural sunlight – sunlight. There are few things more torturous than dying by starvation. These men are killing themselves potentially for fresh air and sunlight, and about a third of California prisoners, 11 out of 33 prisons, have joined them.
Contact the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition to find out how to support this effort for human rights. On the web at: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu Jamal.
Day 18 of the California hungerstrike in support of the demands of those in the SHU units
TODAY: Take Action! Call NOW EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT IN CALIFORNIA.
Governor Jerry Brown: 916-445-2841 "Hi my name is _________ . I'm
calling about the statewide prisoner hunger strike that began at
Pelican Bay .I support the end of the use of long-term solitary
confinement. I am alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating medical
conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction of the prison
system... Thank you."
Prison Secretary Matthew Cate: 916-323-6001
"Hi my name is _____. I'm calling about the statewide prisoner hunger
strike that began at Pelican Bay. I support the prisoners that
long-term solitary confinement should end. I am alarmed by the rapidly
deteriorating medical conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction
of the prision system. Thank You."
Governor Jerry Brown: 916-445-2841 "Hi my name is _________ . I'm
calling about the statewide prisoner hunger strike that began at
Pelican Bay .I support the end of the use of long-term solitary
confinement. I am alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating medical
conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction of the prison
system... Thank you."
Prison Secretary Matthew Cate: 916-323-6001
"Hi my name is _____. I'm calling about the statewide prisoner hunger
strike that began at Pelican Bay. I support the prisoners that
long-term solitary confinement should end. I am alarmed by the rapidly
deteriorating medical conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction
of the prision system. Thank You."
Thursday, July 14, 2011
A Pelican Bay hunger striker’s journal
In: SF BayView
Posted By NatashaR On July 13, 2011
Richard Johnson, a prisoner who recently suffered a heart attack due to a blocked artery in his heart, is among the hunger strikers at Pelican Bay. Since the beginning of the strike, he has been taken off three of his daily meds; medical staff say they may be adverse to his health when taken on an empty stomach. He is submitting a series of articles throughout his time on strike to educate potential supporters about the prison experience. The first, “The Psychology of Prisoners,” is dated July 5, 2011; the second, “Aging in prison,” is dated July 6.
The psychology of prisoners
by Richard Johnson
The multitude of prisoners who find themselves locked away in a perceptible world of perpetual and perplexing discriminatory wretchedness can look only inward for redress. Their only resolve is to attempt to figure out, with some form of insight that would give them some direction, how best to accurately function in an entrenched environment that isn’t transient but is beseiged in physical and mental violence of a destructive nature.
For anyone to come to grips with this situation, the mind must be able to assimilate all the disconnected parts, placing each in its allotted positional purpose.
Without the ability to organize these incompatible moving parts, the mind will undoubtedly be left in an incidental momentum of powerlessness that will further shake the already unstable foundation needed to prevail in the world of confinement. Unlike in society where people can find available aversions to escape the realities that confront them with some success, prisoners are limited in this regard. They can either grow from the experience or descend further in a highly documented atmosphere of self doubt, terror and hostilities.
Quite naturally, some prisoners can fool themselves in make believe, giving them false relief from truth, but in the final analysis the mental carnage will soon engulf them, bringing down those fictitious intrinsic facades used by some prisoners as a form of escapism, be it sports, gambling, drugs, sex or violence – a host of appeasing empty diversions.
The emotional, psychological rollercoaster is very unsettling in terms of a prisoner having a solid, undisruptive, strong balance between oppression and freedom of the mind. There is no dispute that life in general is complicated, demanding and painful, especially for certain segments of society. In the prison microcosm that enervates prisoners’ ability to engender certain powers, this oppression is enhanced tenfold, dispensing unmitigating pressure and trauma within the prison vortex that exists in numerous individuals entrapped in their psychotic turmoil – mostly as a direct result of being imprisoned and sometimes due to arriving in prison in an already lunatic state that only worsened with time.
When ordinary people think of inmates in prison, their focus is primarily on the physical restraint of those locked up. This reasoning, unfortunately, is misplaced because the mind allows the body to persevere, but if the mind goes, in time, so will the body. How else can people walk on fire, perform dangerous feats or educate themselves well beyond their particular circumstance? It’s all about the ability and tenacity of the human mind.
In prison, the main objective is to control the prisoners’ minds, for they’ve already enslaved the body. It’s the last line of defense that the prisoners have to defend themselves against appalling and frightening events that challenge the mind at every turn. By utilizing hard work and inexhaustible resolve, prisoners can step outside the pitfalls associated with doing time and not allow themselves to be victimized by the intensity of prison life.
The mental state of prisoners is also used by prison administrators as a political pawn to garner politicians’ support and funds, earmarked for prison commerce. Each prison generally has a building in which those suffering from obvious and acute mental imbalances are held and given psychiatric medication to help them adapt and exist in the extremes of prison culture. The fact is that most of them shouldn’t be in prison, but rather, in a mental institution in order to receive some quality psychological help – not simply being pumped with mind-altering drugs since it’s less costly or more convenient.
Whenever anyone resorts to eating feces or hurting themselves in any form, they need serious help. Whenever grown folk sit up in their cell and hold one-on-one conversations with themselves, something is innately wrong. Just like in society, mental health is of the upmost importance in prison, because you can’t have people running around noticeably unhinged, or a heartbeat away from doing the unthinkable.
This rationale should equally apply for prisoners who can’t cure themselves properly because of the overwhelming effects of damage done to their thinking process brought on intentionally, in some cases, by the controlling forces at hand.
You may think that it’s not a problem, at least in your world, but the truth is that prisoners’ mental well-being should concern everyone everywhere for the simple fact that exposure to someone released from a prison facility who hasn’t received the necessary treatment for his problems jeopardizes all, putting at risk the safety of many. Let’s be real clear: Not everyone in prison is suffering from mental depravity, but even if one goes without the psychiatric treatment needed to substantially mitigate the possibility of a complete psychological breakdown, then all are at risk.
Situations in some exceptional and defiant norms have caused such irreparable damage that long-term treatment must be used to lessen the injury. There can be no fostering of nonchalant attitudes toward this problem. Simply put, if people in society don’t care, why then should the afflicted not feel the same? With the U.S. locking up so many of its people, it should be criminal not to think and assume that mass imprisonment will have a grave and lasting effect on at least some.
When you tamper with the natural order of life, you put at risk the inherent and pure procession in life that constitutes normality. Prisons are essential to some, who typically think they are there to house the bad while protecting the good. It’s a nice concept.
The fact is penitentiaries are like zoos; their objectives – however admirable – are a complete failure. How do you justify caging human beings without some inkling of moral, humanitarian compassion regardless of their crimes, despicable as they may be? When is torture, physical or mental, acceptable for anyone?
If it’s all right to demonstrate unrelenting pain, then who can complain when it is reciprocal in the same manner? This pain is not right or deserved, but it certainly happens repeatedly and the help needed isn’t forthcoming when it really counts.
We’re all creatures of habit connected to what we discern as right and wrong, often accepting the holy scripture as the words of proper conduct. Too often it’s taken literally, causing some to go to areas of extraordinary disconnect in the name of “God.”
The bottom line is we are our brother’s keeper. However, we are biased, prejudiced and vengeful and then don’t expect the consequences of failure not to revisit, which is wishful thinking.
Prisoners are people too. They deserve to be treated as such in spite of any transgression, for only God can judge and pass judgment on morality, not people who also suffer from lapses of proper choice and virtue themselves.
Aging in prison
By Richard Johnson
For some I suspect that prison life can be a truly horrific and demanding experience under any condition that undermines the ability to stay above the fray. There’s one inevitable fact that will haunt your every move regardless of any attempt at deferring the truth: With each passing day, your age becomes a real factor. This is illustrated even more profoundly if you’re doing a life sentence with less than a promising chance of any release – other than in a body bag.
Being hopeful and optimistic can only suffice for so long, and with time it diminishes as the years pass you by. As life creeps along, your mind constantly toils in retrospect. The future is too gloomy to ponder, so glimpses of the past serve to entertain and bring a margin of relief to cloud the wait for death.
Prison certainly isn’t the place to be on any occasion, under any circumstance, but what is even worse is being old and surrounded by elements that are inherently in opposition to age. This is an entirely different crisis within itself. Health concerns worsen increasingly while waiting to die. One shouldn’t be concerned with debilitating health problems involving complications related to growing old. Our mind tells us that we’re OK and everything is the same, yet our bodies remind us that we’re in a serious battle being physically fought daily. You awaken every day just like the day before, greeting it with a forced smile on an aging face and a failing body.
Life is measured on a day by day basis. You count your blessings and accomplishments based on what you did that day, because to focus too far ahead could prove to be an erroneous delusion. However, to say that every aging prisoner will die in prison is incorrect. Some most certainly will find themselves eventually being released at some point, be it in their 70s or 80s. But to keep a person locked up for 40-50 years then turn them out with nothing to go out to can be equally fatal for them.
Normally, aging prisoners are segregated with other prisoners of similar age, but with overcrowding, violence and lack of medical care, the chances of the process of aging getting any respect dwindles with each failure associated with prisons. Moreover, as the prisons become more and more a business interest, prisoners are viewed as a plain commodity, serving as a new source of profit. It doesn’t matter if that commodity is ailing, mentally unbalanced, young or old; as long as it’s breathing, it is a viable investment.
There used to be a time when clear distinctions were made in terms of designating prisoners; it was by age, temperament, health – both mental and physical – and work propensity, among other things. Now all that is irrelevant. The death rate for the aging in prison has spiraled drastically over the years. A lot of them just gave in and resigned themselves to a fate looked upon by some as befitting in comparison to the rigors of daily prison experience and survival.
Often prisoners outlive their immediate relatives and find themselves trying to get by without any outside help. Friends forget them. Their children ignore them. Wives divorce them. Society completely abandons them. This happens more often than not. To live life on the installment plan, you can’t help but reflect on who is better off, those sentenced to a certain time with the prospect of eventual death in prison or those of us sentenced to life?
Both scenarios have a reservation with destiny, but which one is more human or barbaric? We come to prison in spite of our sentences. We try to better ourselves through education by absorbing all useful educational material that we can get our hands on, or at least some of us do. We try as best as we possibly can to stay in shape by exercising and paying attention to our health issues. We try to avoid the emotional backlash of living in a toilet for decades.
We go out of our way in an attempt to stay connected to some features of the outside world. Yet after doing all of this, the ultimate question arises: To what end? We lose our teeth, our hair, our bodies, our objectivity and for some of us we lose our minds all in the process of growing old in prison. Is it sensible for us to want to cling to empty dreams, forgotten passions and the remote possibility of freedom?
Personally, I am of the opinion that life, regardless of its woes, should be lived in spite of the difficulties. I think that the only certainty in life is to help you to command some rule over your existence and not be dominated by it, take charge with impressive persistency. Durability comes with age, and if we allow time to demoralize our struggle, then we lose!
Send our brutha some love and light: Richard Johnson, K-53293, SHU D2-218, PO Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
Posted By NatashaR On July 13, 2011
Richard Johnson, a prisoner who recently suffered a heart attack due to a blocked artery in his heart, is among the hunger strikers at Pelican Bay. Since the beginning of the strike, he has been taken off three of his daily meds; medical staff say they may be adverse to his health when taken on an empty stomach. He is submitting a series of articles throughout his time on strike to educate potential supporters about the prison experience. The first, “The Psychology of Prisoners,” is dated July 5, 2011; the second, “Aging in prison,” is dated July 6.
The psychology of prisoners
by Richard Johnson
The multitude of prisoners who find themselves locked away in a perceptible world of perpetual and perplexing discriminatory wretchedness can look only inward for redress. Their only resolve is to attempt to figure out, with some form of insight that would give them some direction, how best to accurately function in an entrenched environment that isn’t transient but is beseiged in physical and mental violence of a destructive nature.
For anyone to come to grips with this situation, the mind must be able to assimilate all the disconnected parts, placing each in its allotted positional purpose.
Without the ability to organize these incompatible moving parts, the mind will undoubtedly be left in an incidental momentum of powerlessness that will further shake the already unstable foundation needed to prevail in the world of confinement. Unlike in society where people can find available aversions to escape the realities that confront them with some success, prisoners are limited in this regard. They can either grow from the experience or descend further in a highly documented atmosphere of self doubt, terror and hostilities.
Quite naturally, some prisoners can fool themselves in make believe, giving them false relief from truth, but in the final analysis the mental carnage will soon engulf them, bringing down those fictitious intrinsic facades used by some prisoners as a form of escapism, be it sports, gambling, drugs, sex or violence – a host of appeasing empty diversions.
The emotional, psychological rollercoaster is very unsettling in terms of a prisoner having a solid, undisruptive, strong balance between oppression and freedom of the mind. There is no dispute that life in general is complicated, demanding and painful, especially for certain segments of society. In the prison microcosm that enervates prisoners’ ability to engender certain powers, this oppression is enhanced tenfold, dispensing unmitigating pressure and trauma within the prison vortex that exists in numerous individuals entrapped in their psychotic turmoil – mostly as a direct result of being imprisoned and sometimes due to arriving in prison in an already lunatic state that only worsened with time.
When ordinary people think of inmates in prison, their focus is primarily on the physical restraint of those locked up. This reasoning, unfortunately, is misplaced because the mind allows the body to persevere, but if the mind goes, in time, so will the body. How else can people walk on fire, perform dangerous feats or educate themselves well beyond their particular circumstance? It’s all about the ability and tenacity of the human mind.
In prison, the main objective is to control the prisoners’ minds, for they’ve already enslaved the body. It’s the last line of defense that the prisoners have to defend themselves against appalling and frightening events that challenge the mind at every turn. By utilizing hard work and inexhaustible resolve, prisoners can step outside the pitfalls associated with doing time and not allow themselves to be victimized by the intensity of prison life.
The mental state of prisoners is also used by prison administrators as a political pawn to garner politicians’ support and funds, earmarked for prison commerce. Each prison generally has a building in which those suffering from obvious and acute mental imbalances are held and given psychiatric medication to help them adapt and exist in the extremes of prison culture. The fact is that most of them shouldn’t be in prison, but rather, in a mental institution in order to receive some quality psychological help – not simply being pumped with mind-altering drugs since it’s less costly or more convenient.
Whenever anyone resorts to eating feces or hurting themselves in any form, they need serious help. Whenever grown folk sit up in their cell and hold one-on-one conversations with themselves, something is innately wrong. Just like in society, mental health is of the upmost importance in prison, because you can’t have people running around noticeably unhinged, or a heartbeat away from doing the unthinkable.
This rationale should equally apply for prisoners who can’t cure themselves properly because of the overwhelming effects of damage done to their thinking process brought on intentionally, in some cases, by the controlling forces at hand.
You may think that it’s not a problem, at least in your world, but the truth is that prisoners’ mental well-being should concern everyone everywhere for the simple fact that exposure to someone released from a prison facility who hasn’t received the necessary treatment for his problems jeopardizes all, putting at risk the safety of many. Let’s be real clear: Not everyone in prison is suffering from mental depravity, but even if one goes without the psychiatric treatment needed to substantially mitigate the possibility of a complete psychological breakdown, then all are at risk.
Situations in some exceptional and defiant norms have caused such irreparable damage that long-term treatment must be used to lessen the injury. There can be no fostering of nonchalant attitudes toward this problem. Simply put, if people in society don’t care, why then should the afflicted not feel the same? With the U.S. locking up so many of its people, it should be criminal not to think and assume that mass imprisonment will have a grave and lasting effect on at least some.
When you tamper with the natural order of life, you put at risk the inherent and pure procession in life that constitutes normality. Prisons are essential to some, who typically think they are there to house the bad while protecting the good. It’s a nice concept.
The fact is penitentiaries are like zoos; their objectives – however admirable – are a complete failure. How do you justify caging human beings without some inkling of moral, humanitarian compassion regardless of their crimes, despicable as they may be? When is torture, physical or mental, acceptable for anyone?
If it’s all right to demonstrate unrelenting pain, then who can complain when it is reciprocal in the same manner? This pain is not right or deserved, but it certainly happens repeatedly and the help needed isn’t forthcoming when it really counts.
We’re all creatures of habit connected to what we discern as right and wrong, often accepting the holy scripture as the words of proper conduct. Too often it’s taken literally, causing some to go to areas of extraordinary disconnect in the name of “God.”
The bottom line is we are our brother’s keeper. However, we are biased, prejudiced and vengeful and then don’t expect the consequences of failure not to revisit, which is wishful thinking.
Prisoners are people too. They deserve to be treated as such in spite of any transgression, for only God can judge and pass judgment on morality, not people who also suffer from lapses of proper choice and virtue themselves.
Aging in prison
By Richard Johnson
For some I suspect that prison life can be a truly horrific and demanding experience under any condition that undermines the ability to stay above the fray. There’s one inevitable fact that will haunt your every move regardless of any attempt at deferring the truth: With each passing day, your age becomes a real factor. This is illustrated even more profoundly if you’re doing a life sentence with less than a promising chance of any release – other than in a body bag.
Being hopeful and optimistic can only suffice for so long, and with time it diminishes as the years pass you by. As life creeps along, your mind constantly toils in retrospect. The future is too gloomy to ponder, so glimpses of the past serve to entertain and bring a margin of relief to cloud the wait for death.
Prison certainly isn’t the place to be on any occasion, under any circumstance, but what is even worse is being old and surrounded by elements that are inherently in opposition to age. This is an entirely different crisis within itself. Health concerns worsen increasingly while waiting to die. One shouldn’t be concerned with debilitating health problems involving complications related to growing old. Our mind tells us that we’re OK and everything is the same, yet our bodies remind us that we’re in a serious battle being physically fought daily. You awaken every day just like the day before, greeting it with a forced smile on an aging face and a failing body.
Life is measured on a day by day basis. You count your blessings and accomplishments based on what you did that day, because to focus too far ahead could prove to be an erroneous delusion. However, to say that every aging prisoner will die in prison is incorrect. Some most certainly will find themselves eventually being released at some point, be it in their 70s or 80s. But to keep a person locked up for 40-50 years then turn them out with nothing to go out to can be equally fatal for them.
Normally, aging prisoners are segregated with other prisoners of similar age, but with overcrowding, violence and lack of medical care, the chances of the process of aging getting any respect dwindles with each failure associated with prisons. Moreover, as the prisons become more and more a business interest, prisoners are viewed as a plain commodity, serving as a new source of profit. It doesn’t matter if that commodity is ailing, mentally unbalanced, young or old; as long as it’s breathing, it is a viable investment.
There used to be a time when clear distinctions were made in terms of designating prisoners; it was by age, temperament, health – both mental and physical – and work propensity, among other things. Now all that is irrelevant. The death rate for the aging in prison has spiraled drastically over the years. A lot of them just gave in and resigned themselves to a fate looked upon by some as befitting in comparison to the rigors of daily prison experience and survival.
Often prisoners outlive their immediate relatives and find themselves trying to get by without any outside help. Friends forget them. Their children ignore them. Wives divorce them. Society completely abandons them. This happens more often than not. To live life on the installment plan, you can’t help but reflect on who is better off, those sentenced to a certain time with the prospect of eventual death in prison or those of us sentenced to life?
Both scenarios have a reservation with destiny, but which one is more human or barbaric? We come to prison in spite of our sentences. We try to better ourselves through education by absorbing all useful educational material that we can get our hands on, or at least some of us do. We try as best as we possibly can to stay in shape by exercising and paying attention to our health issues. We try to avoid the emotional backlash of living in a toilet for decades.
We go out of our way in an attempt to stay connected to some features of the outside world. Yet after doing all of this, the ultimate question arises: To what end? We lose our teeth, our hair, our bodies, our objectivity and for some of us we lose our minds all in the process of growing old in prison. Is it sensible for us to want to cling to empty dreams, forgotten passions and the remote possibility of freedom?
Personally, I am of the opinion that life, regardless of its woes, should be lived in spite of the difficulties. I think that the only certainty in life is to help you to command some rule over your existence and not be dominated by it, take charge with impressive persistency. Durability comes with age, and if we allow time to demoralize our struggle, then we lose!
Send our brutha some love and light: Richard Johnson, K-53293, SHU D2-218, PO Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532
Starving in Solitary: California Prison Hunger Strikers’ Health Declines, But State Will Not Negotiate
From: SolitaryWatch:
by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway
July 14th 2011
It’s been two weeks since a group of inmates in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit stopped eating. Their hunger strike was launched to protest conditions in solitary confinement in California’s oldest and largest supermax, where they spend at least 22 1/2 hours a day locked down in their cells, and the remaining time alone in concrete exercise yards. Many have been in the SHU for years or even decades, with little hope of ever leaving it alive–an extreme situation that, to their minds, called for extreme measures.
Since the strike began, it has spread to 13 of the state’s 33 prisons, where–according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s own figures–some 6,600 have refused at least some meals. But the heart of the protest remains in the SHUs at Corcoran State Prison and at Pelican Bay, where a core group of several dozen men say they are “committed to taking this all the way to the death, if necessary,” according to strike organizer Todd Ashker.
Information from this prison-within-a-prison is by nature difficult to come by and impossible to verify, but news of the strikers trickles out through family members and supporters. Today, the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition reports that it received an “urgent update from medical staff” at Pelican Bay. According to the coalition, a ”source with access to the current medical conditions who prefers to be unnamed” said: “The prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging consequences of dehydration. They are not drinking water and have decompensated rapidly. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated.” Family members who visited SHU prisoners over the weekend have reported that they are visibly thinner, sicker, and weaker.
Read the rest here.
by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway
July 14th 2011
It’s been two weeks since a group of inmates in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit stopped eating. Their hunger strike was launched to protest conditions in solitary confinement in California’s oldest and largest supermax, where they spend at least 22 1/2 hours a day locked down in their cells, and the remaining time alone in concrete exercise yards. Many have been in the SHU for years or even decades, with little hope of ever leaving it alive–an extreme situation that, to their minds, called for extreme measures.
Since the strike began, it has spread to 13 of the state’s 33 prisons, where–according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s own figures–some 6,600 have refused at least some meals. But the heart of the protest remains in the SHUs at Corcoran State Prison and at Pelican Bay, where a core group of several dozen men say they are “committed to taking this all the way to the death, if necessary,” according to strike organizer Todd Ashker.
Information from this prison-within-a-prison is by nature difficult to come by and impossible to verify, but news of the strikers trickles out through family members and supporters. Today, the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition reports that it received an “urgent update from medical staff” at Pelican Bay. According to the coalition, a ”source with access to the current medical conditions who prefers to be unnamed” said: “The prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging consequences of dehydration. They are not drinking water and have decompensated rapidly. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated.” Family members who visited SHU prisoners over the weekend have reported that they are visibly thinner, sicker, and weaker.
Read the rest here.
Advocates: Calif. inmates on hunger strike near death
PressTV (includes tv report):
July 14th 2011
Inmates in a number of California prisons have been refusing food since July first.
The hunger strike is protesting the conditions in the Security Housing Unit, or SHU, in Pelican Bay State Prison. Inmates say the extreme isolation in these maximum security areas are damaging their health and they want an end to indefinite confinement.
Prison officials say the number of inmates refusing food in California prisons has dropped to 795 at six prisons. That's down from a high of 6,600 at 13 prisons.
Clyde Young is a prisoner advocate and a former prisoner. Young says even though fewer prisoners are striking, about 200 inmates in the SHU are progressing rapidly toward organ damage from extreme dehydration.
Prison officials say the reports are exaggerated and that no inmates have reached a “crisis” stage.
Dolores Martinez is a mother of a SHU inmate. Martinez says she believes the situation is worse than prison
officials want to admit.
Advocates say meetings with prison officials have not been successful in addressing the inmates' demands.
Martinez says a large number of people are dismissing this issue because society doesn't typically provide inmates with sympathy.
Prison officials say there are no plans to change policies for confining inmates who commit serious crimes in prison.
And officials in charge of prison medical care say doctors and nurses are closely monitoring inmate health and will provide medical care to the inmates that want it.
July 14th 2011
Inmates in a number of California prisons have been refusing food since July first.
The hunger strike is protesting the conditions in the Security Housing Unit, or SHU, in Pelican Bay State Prison. Inmates say the extreme isolation in these maximum security areas are damaging their health and they want an end to indefinite confinement.
Prison officials say the number of inmates refusing food in California prisons has dropped to 795 at six prisons. That's down from a high of 6,600 at 13 prisons.
Clyde Young is a prisoner advocate and a former prisoner. Young says even though fewer prisoners are striking, about 200 inmates in the SHU are progressing rapidly toward organ damage from extreme dehydration.
Prison officials say the reports are exaggerated and that no inmates have reached a “crisis” stage.
Dolores Martinez is a mother of a SHU inmate. Martinez says she believes the situation is worse than prison
officials want to admit.
Advocates say meetings with prison officials have not been successful in addressing the inmates' demands.
Martinez says a large number of people are dismissing this issue because society doesn't typically provide inmates with sympathy.
Prison officials say there are no plans to change policies for confining inmates who commit serious crimes in prison.
And officials in charge of prison medical care say doctors and nurses are closely monitoring inmate health and will provide medical care to the inmates that want it.
Support grows for California prisoners’ hunger strike
From: Workers World
By Sharon Danann
Cleveland
Published Jul 13, 2011
Even California prison authorities acknowledge that 6,600 prisoners were participating in the hunger strike called by inmates in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit over the “Fourth of July” weekend. (Los Angeles Times, July 9) Pelican Bay is California’s supermax prison. The prisoners in the SHU are in solitary confinement, some for decades.
(Photo: Cleveland activists hold informational picket
and leafleting July 9 in solidarity with
California prisoners. WW photo: Susan Schnur)
More than one-third of California’s 33 prisons had inmates refusing food, many of whom are also in SHUs. There is widespread support for the hunger strikers’ demands for such basic human rights as an end to collective punishment and to long-term isolation, adequate food and a phone call a week.
Support for the hunger strike spread worldwide. On July 3 in Perth, Australia, as part of a celebration of Aboriginal survival, the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee held an action in solidarity with the hunger strike. On July 4 activists in Kingston, Ontario, unfurled a huge banner saying “Collins Bay to Pelican Bay, Solidarity for Prisoners on Strike.” Inmates in Collins Bay Federal Penitentiary there started a work stoppage June 28 to address the issues of overcrowding and prison conditions.
Dancers from Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc in Los Angeles performed ceremonial dances in front of Pelican Bay prison on July 4. Supporters held rallies in cities in the U.S. and Canada almost daily from July 1 to July 9, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Eureka, Calif.; Seattle; Harrisonburg and Blacksburg, Va.; Cleveland; New York; Montreal and Toronto.
Activists in Montreal are hosting a “Contractor Crawl” to “discover some of Montreal’s prison contractors on July 16. On July 23 there is a rally at Ohio State Penitentiary at 2 p.m., followed by a program on torture in today’s prisons at 4:30, both in Youngstown. For more information contact lucasvillefreedom@gmail.com.
Solidarity from behind the walls
In the supermax unit at OSP, prisoners went on a 36-hour solidarity hunger strike from July 1 to July 2. Among these was Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan, one of three OSP prisoners who were able to improve the terms of their confinement through a hunger strike in January of this year. All three were sentenced to death as the result of their alleged roles in the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio.
In his solidarity message to the California prisoners entitled “United We Stand,” Imam Hasan proclaimed,
Danann is a member of the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network and visits prisoners in OSP, Ohio’s supermax prison.
By Sharon Danann
Cleveland
Published Jul 13, 2011
Even California prison authorities acknowledge that 6,600 prisoners were participating in the hunger strike called by inmates in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit over the “Fourth of July” weekend. (Los Angeles Times, July 9) Pelican Bay is California’s supermax prison. The prisoners in the SHU are in solitary confinement, some for decades.
(Photo: Cleveland activists hold informational picket
and leafleting July 9 in solidarity with
California prisoners. WW photo: Susan Schnur)
More than one-third of California’s 33 prisons had inmates refusing food, many of whom are also in SHUs. There is widespread support for the hunger strikers’ demands for such basic human rights as an end to collective punishment and to long-term isolation, adequate food and a phone call a week.
Support for the hunger strike spread worldwide. On July 3 in Perth, Australia, as part of a celebration of Aboriginal survival, the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee held an action in solidarity with the hunger strike. On July 4 activists in Kingston, Ontario, unfurled a huge banner saying “Collins Bay to Pelican Bay, Solidarity for Prisoners on Strike.” Inmates in Collins Bay Federal Penitentiary there started a work stoppage June 28 to address the issues of overcrowding and prison conditions.
Dancers from Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc in Los Angeles performed ceremonial dances in front of Pelican Bay prison on July 4. Supporters held rallies in cities in the U.S. and Canada almost daily from July 1 to July 9, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Eureka, Calif.; Seattle; Harrisonburg and Blacksburg, Va.; Cleveland; New York; Montreal and Toronto.
Activists in Montreal are hosting a “Contractor Crawl” to “discover some of Montreal’s prison contractors on July 16. On July 23 there is a rally at Ohio State Penitentiary at 2 p.m., followed by a program on torture in today’s prisons at 4:30, both in Youngstown. For more information contact lucasvillefreedom@gmail.com.
Solidarity from behind the walls
In the supermax unit at OSP, prisoners went on a 36-hour solidarity hunger strike from July 1 to July 2. Among these was Imam Siddique Abdullah Hasan, one of three OSP prisoners who were able to improve the terms of their confinement through a hunger strike in January of this year. All three were sentenced to death as the result of their alleged roles in the 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio.
In his solidarity message to the California prisoners entitled “United We Stand,” Imam Hasan proclaimed,
“Their injustices have been going on for far too long. ... Twenty-five years is too long for human beings to be subjected to the cruel terms and dictates of their oppressors.”Lucasville uprising hunger striker Jason Robb wrote,
“I can fully understand and respect the path [the Pelican Bay hunger strikers] chose. They have made a decision that is not easy at best, but men must stand as men or be subject to being treated as less.”The third Lucasville uprising hunger striker, Bomani Shakur, posted in his “Letter of Support” at www.kersplebedeb.com:
“In a country that incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world (over 2.6 million men and women behind bars), human rights violations are inevitable, and it falls to those of us who must suffer through the experience to stand up and speak truth to power, for as Frederick Douglass suggested: ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand.’ In the days to come, the men at Pelican Bay will need each and every one of us to support them, to stand with them as they seek to bring their situation to a tolerable level.”For the complete list of hunger strike demands, a link to an electronic petition, up-to-date event information, and what you can do to help, visit http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com.
Danann is a member of the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network and visits prisoners in OSP, Ohio’s supermax prison.
A direct call for a statewide work strike supporting the hunger strike to abolish SHU policies
This was posted on a Facebook Event page for the Prison Hunger Strike:
July 13-14th 2011
URGENT REPOST!!! print and mail to prisoners!!!!
A direct call for a statewide work strike supporting the hunger strike to abolish SHU policies
An indefinite hunger strike began on 1st July by the prisoners held in the Pelican Bay Security Housing unit (SHU). They have been joined by
prisoners in the Corcoran and Folsom SHUs. Huge amounts of domestic and foreign support has been organized for these prisoners.
In order to win this struggle, however, every available resource must be brought into play. We are at a historical juncture in which prisoners can take control of their lives, to have some say in the conditions in which they are expected to exist, or else they will continue to be mere pawns acted upon by external forces and watch things get even worse.
Starting IMMEDIATELY, defendants/prisoners can start the process of improving their conditions of existence by implementing a peaceful work
strike in every prison in the state. Defendants may draft demands as each facility sees fit, however, the first demand on the list must be to
implement the core demands of the prisons held in the SHU's.
The longest prison work strike in US history was at the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla in 1978 which lasted for 47 days. It
resulted in the release of the Walla Walla Brothers from the SHU, the Director of Corrections, Harold Bradley, being fired, the warden removed and the associate warden of custody transferred to a youth facility. Work strikes can and do result in positive change!
In the recent Georgia strike, prisoners in every prison went on a statewide peaceful work strike. The prisoners were supported by their families and friends, who helped spread the word of the planned strike to other prisons and found supportive groups in a wide variety of communities to bring information about the prisoners’ conditions and bring attention to their demands.
Plaintiffs and prisoners want to do the same thing here in California.
It is up to YOU to get this message to everyone you trust at your prison and to spread the word across all yards. You are being asked to tell
other prisoners that, STARTING IMMEDIATELY, no work will be performed.
NO WORK means no kitchen, no hospital, no anything, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Anyone advocating violence is a provocateur and listening to such people will on result in defeat. The struggle must be solid and protracted.
Plaintiffs on the outside will provide support by amplifying your choice. If you are not the person to get this done, then please give this document to someone you think is.
Let’s recap …
· Effective IMMEDIATELY—prisoners initiate a peaceful work stoppage at all prisons.
· Nobody works—no exceptions.
· The Walla Walla record is 47 days (it will take time to change public consciousness).
· There must be NO VIOLENCE of any nature.
· The first demand to be amended is “debriefing”, as it is known in SHU prison policy, will no longer be tolerated or permitted and considered a
crime committed by the institutions that seek it as a means of control.
The strike is over when the prisoners win or are defeated.
If local demands are not met, then the strike may continue at that individual facility.
The first step of becoming part of prisoner history is to communicate the essence of this document to others on the inside. This message is
going into prisons across the state by this and other means.
This is NOW a nationwide effort so please repost, repost, repost on all social networking sites.
Send this to everyone in every prison by every means possible.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
##
July 13-14th 2011
URGENT REPOST!!! print and mail to prisoners!!!!
A direct call for a statewide work strike supporting the hunger strike to abolish SHU policies
An indefinite hunger strike began on 1st July by the prisoners held in the Pelican Bay Security Housing unit (SHU). They have been joined by
prisoners in the Corcoran and Folsom SHUs. Huge amounts of domestic and foreign support has been organized for these prisoners.
In order to win this struggle, however, every available resource must be brought into play. We are at a historical juncture in which prisoners can take control of their lives, to have some say in the conditions in which they are expected to exist, or else they will continue to be mere pawns acted upon by external forces and watch things get even worse.
Starting IMMEDIATELY, defendants/prisoners can start the process of improving their conditions of existence by implementing a peaceful work
strike in every prison in the state. Defendants may draft demands as each facility sees fit, however, the first demand on the list must be to
implement the core demands of the prisons held in the SHU's.
The longest prison work strike in US history was at the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla in 1978 which lasted for 47 days. It
resulted in the release of the Walla Walla Brothers from the SHU, the Director of Corrections, Harold Bradley, being fired, the warden removed and the associate warden of custody transferred to a youth facility. Work strikes can and do result in positive change!
In the recent Georgia strike, prisoners in every prison went on a statewide peaceful work strike. The prisoners were supported by their families and friends, who helped spread the word of the planned strike to other prisons and found supportive groups in a wide variety of communities to bring information about the prisoners’ conditions and bring attention to their demands.
Plaintiffs and prisoners want to do the same thing here in California.
It is up to YOU to get this message to everyone you trust at your prison and to spread the word across all yards. You are being asked to tell
other prisoners that, STARTING IMMEDIATELY, no work will be performed.
NO WORK means no kitchen, no hospital, no anything, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Anyone advocating violence is a provocateur and listening to such people will on result in defeat. The struggle must be solid and protracted.
Plaintiffs on the outside will provide support by amplifying your choice. If you are not the person to get this done, then please give this document to someone you think is.
Let’s recap …
· Effective IMMEDIATELY—prisoners initiate a peaceful work stoppage at all prisons.
· Nobody works—no exceptions.
· The Walla Walla record is 47 days (it will take time to change public consciousness).
· There must be NO VIOLENCE of any nature.
· The first demand to be amended is “debriefing”, as it is known in SHU prison policy, will no longer be tolerated or permitted and considered a
crime committed by the institutions that seek it as a means of control.
The strike is over when the prisoners win or are defeated.
If local demands are not met, then the strike may continue at that individual facility.
The first step of becoming part of prisoner history is to communicate the essence of this document to others on the inside. This message is
going into prisons across the state by this and other means.
This is NOW a nationwide effort so please repost, repost, repost on all social networking sites.
Send this to everyone in every prison by every means possible.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
##
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Urgent Medical Alerts about the ongoing Hungerstrike in and because of the SHU
Source: http://moorbey.wordpress.com
Also: www.Freedomarchives.org (we could not find it on there though). Received via Cleveland ABC facebook group:
A Brief Update From the Front Lines of the Struggle:
Corcoran-SHU 4B 1L C-section Isolation Unit Hunger Strike
Date 7/3/11 0917 Hours
Greetings to all who support freedom, justice, and equality, and oppose torture. We are 3 days into the hunger strike here in 4B 1L C-section (Corcoran SHU’s version of the short corridor), and I want to report that our first brother has gone down.
Last night (7/2/11) at approximately 22:55 hours (10:55 p.m.) our beloved brother Kambui Nantambu Robinson, a Type 1 Diabetic who’s commitment, resolve, and strength are an inspiration to us all, went into severe diabetic shock (hypoglycemia [acute low blood sugar]), after our efforts to render assistant to enable him to overcome the subsequent ketoacidosis which accompanied the attack failed.
We called “Man Down” and ultimately got the tower’s attention. We are only 3 cells from one another so I was able to observe the medical response directly (I am a former U.S. Naval Hospital Corpsman attached to Spec-war PAC-Fleet Command), which was panicky, bumbling, and slow . . . far too slow. The comrade did suffer a mild seizure, loss of consciousness, and stopped breathing for a brief period. The nurse administered what I believe was glycogen and epinephrine. After our prompts to staff, he was finally secured to the gurney and transported via ambulance to the hospital, where he was admitted and remains. This stalwart new Afrikan soldier of the people is to be honored, revered, and admired for his unwavering stance in support of our collective basic human rights and dignity.
He remains with us in spirit, as our love, spirit, and dedication to purpose remain with him. We ask for your prayers, your phone calls, and letters – spread the word on Facebook, twitter, and other social media of our stance here, in Pelican Bay D corridor, and across the CDC. Kambui’s spirit endures!! Uhuru Sasa!! Si se puede!!
Currently, here and 4B 1L C-section the new Afrikan collective and southern Mexican collective are in full participation, while our white and northern Mexican brothers are lending their moral support.
On 7/1/11 they came around on 3rd watch and checked ourselves to catalog what food we had, if any. The following today they’ll start weighing us. There are some here with serious medical conditions such as cancer survivors and we anticipate we may well see more hospitalizations, or death, as our collective resolve to see this peaceful protest through to a successful conclusion is adamant. We have documented at least one instance of institutional gang investigators attempting to foment racial divisions here in the torture unit in an attempt to derail or fracture the hunger strike for its solidarity. It, and any other counterintelligence assaults of its kind, will fail.
We again call on everyone who reads these words to support the five point court demands of this peaceful protest as outlined by the Pelican Bay D corridor collective (see: Turning This Tide, July Issue; California Prison Focus, July Issue; or go to “www.barnonearcata.wordpress.com – Archives – PBSP – SHU D-corridor Hunger Strike”). Call or email your local TV station; blog about it on the web; organize support at your local church, mosque, temple, synagogue, or community center; contact your Congressman, Alderman, or local legislature; write and call the governor. Oppose the continued use, expansion and broadening of those psychological torture units in your nation.
Do not allow the prison industrial complex in California Correctional Peace Officers Association (guards union) to continue using us as scape goats to fleece you for billions of your tax dollars to line their pockets, and deny our communities and children greater prosperity and a future brighter tomorrows. Join us in opposing conditions so psychologically torturous that they would compel men to embrace self immolation – even death – as a viable tool of struggle to alter that existence. Dare with us; dare to struggle, dare to win . . . Our love and solidarity to all those who champion freedom, justice, and equality, and fear only failure.
Alucoa continua,
J. Heshima Denhayn
For more information on this N.C.T.T. – Corcoran SHU, or the CAL-SHU Hunger Strike Contact:
Zaharibu Dorrough D-83611 Heshima Denham J-38283 Kambuit Robinson C-82830
CSP-COR-SHU 4B 1L #53 CSP-COR-SHU 4B 1L #46 CSP-COR-SHU 4B 1L #49
PO Box 3481 PO Box 3481 PO Box 3481
Corcoran, CA 93212 Corcoran, CA 93212 Corcoran, CA 93212
***********************************************************************8
Update: 7/3/11 18:45 Hours
There has been an unfortunate development here, and though we knew the probability of this occurring was high, we didn’t know it would come this sudden.
At approximately 1845 hrs. (6:45 pm) for picking up trash and trays from our white and northern Mexican brothers, one of the CEOs here began to call our staunch a beloved brother Haribu Mugabi Soriono’s name repeatedly. He did not respond. She notified the tower “Soriono’s unresponsive, called EMT and notify the watch commander.” Then the alarm was triggered. Multiple custody and medical staff responded, but because Haribu was unconscious he could not comply with their directions to come to the door and cuff-up.
A tactile team was assembled and they entered his cell. As they were putting him in mechanical restraints he regained consciousness briefly, and quickly lost it again. EMTs arrived, he was secured to the gurney and rushed by ambulance to A.C.H. (Hosptial) where he remains. Comrade Haribu is a 57-year-old veteran prisoner and human rights activist who just waged and won a protracted battle with cancer (Leukemia) and suffers from multiple chronic medical conditions, yet he started fasting two days before the hunger strike started, in solidarity with our Afrikan brothers and sisters in the Horn of Afrika suffering famine and death with no food or water because of a 2-year drought.
A beloved brother went five days without eating, knowing his body was already severely damaged to uphold our collective pursuit of basic human rights and dignity. This brother brave death to free us all from torture without end, and to make you all aware that it’s being carried out – right here in the borders of your nation; not halfway around the world in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, or some CIA blacksite – No – Right Here in Pelican Bay, Corcoran, and Tehachapi SHUs; human experimentation torture units are being ran and expanded. Haribu is an inspiration to us all, a hero of the people, and his undaunted fighting spirit abides with us all. Pray for our beloved brother and comrade – pray for us all.
********************************************************
Update: 7/5/11 15:20 Hours
We were again weighed today and her vitals taken an average of 8 to 20 pounds has been lost by those participating (I’ve personally gone from 208 to 188 in 5 days). The Associate Warden and Captain held a sit down with representatives of the population – noting the hunger strike has been taken up SHU wide and on the Main line (3B Yard as well).
Our Brother Zaharibu Dorrough and representatives from the southern Mexican, white, and northern Mexican collectives expressed our collective concerns as outlined in the Pelican Bay collectives five point court demands and our local 602. It appeared to be more of a feeling out session and nothing of substance will be addressed until after a meeting to be held in Sacramento Friday, July 8 at 1300 hrs. (1:00 pm). It is our hope that reason, principal, and humanity prevail as a result continues unwavering. Stand with us. Until we win or don’t lose, we remain firm.
In struggle,
J. Heshima Denham
N.C.T.T. Corcoran SHU
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
----
URGENT: Hunger Striker’s Health Rapidly Deteriorates
Posted on July 12, 2011
From: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition received an urgent update from medical staff at Pelican Bay State Prison that the health of at least 200 hunger strikers in the SHU is rapidly worsening. A source with access to the current medical conditions who prefers to be unnamed reported:
“The prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging consequences of dehydration. They are not drinking water and have decompensated rapidly. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated.“
SHU prisoners at Pelican Bay have said they are willing to risk their lives and will continue to strike until their demands are met. The CDCR continues to refuse to negotiate.
Prisoners across CA continue to refuse food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay SHU hunger strikers.
This past weekend, families and friends sent encouragement and support to their loved ones during weekend visits at prisons across the state, witnessing the toll the hunger strike is taking on their bodies. Families have said their loved ones are extremely pale, shaking and have already lost 20-30 pounds. Some families of prisoners who have only been drinking water for 12 days now witnessed their loved ones faint or go into diabetic shock in visiting rooms over the weekend.
People locked up across the state have been telling their friends and families about the tactics prison officials have been using to break the strike.
Many prisoners have said that medications are being denied to prisoners on hunger strike.
Prisoners have reported that guards in at least Pelican Bay General Population and Calipatria State Prison have been calling throughout blocks and units: “The Hunger Strike is over! The 5 demands have been met!” which is not true. According to family members of prisoners at Calipatria, participation at Calipatria was huge–at least 1,500 prisoners throughout that prison alone joined the hunger strike– until the guards spread rumors of the strike ending. Some prisoners at Calipatria remain on hunger strike, however.
While the CDCR released it’s estimate of 6,600 prisoners participating in the hunger strike during the 4th of July weekend and declared the numbers dropping to over 2,100 in the following days, of course the CDCR failed to mentioned how and why that happened. The decline in numbers in no way demonstrates a lack of support or dedication to this struggle from the prisoners, rather how eager the CDCR is to make this issue go away quickly and quietly.
Families and community organizations like Prison Moratorium Project continue to rally support outside of striking prisons like Corcoran, sharing information and trying to visit their loved ones as regularly as possible. Families and community members are also supporting the strike outside Pelican Bay.
Support for this hunger strike is at a crucial point, where we need to pressure the CDCR to negotiate with the prisoners immediately. Call the CDCR and urge them to negotiate NOW. Also call your legislators and urge them to make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners in good faith. Click here for more info, including a sample script and phone numbers.
***The coalition also needs help getting updates and information to prisoners throughout CA. If you know people who are locked up in CA, please either send us their information or send them updates of the strike, including how people are supporting outside. The Hunger Strikers need our support, and need to know how much support is growing for them outside prison. ***
***An emergency press conference will be held Wed July 13th at 11 am outside the California State Building in San Francisco (Van Ness & McAllister)***
##
Also: www.Freedomarchives.org (we could not find it on there though). Received via Cleveland ABC facebook group:
A Brief Update From the Front Lines of the Struggle:
Corcoran-SHU 4B 1L C-section Isolation Unit Hunger Strike
Date 7/3/11 0917 Hours
Greetings to all who support freedom, justice, and equality, and oppose torture. We are 3 days into the hunger strike here in 4B 1L C-section (Corcoran SHU’s version of the short corridor), and I want to report that our first brother has gone down.
Last night (7/2/11) at approximately 22:55 hours (10:55 p.m.) our beloved brother Kambui Nantambu Robinson, a Type 1 Diabetic who’s commitment, resolve, and strength are an inspiration to us all, went into severe diabetic shock (hypoglycemia [acute low blood sugar]), after our efforts to render assistant to enable him to overcome the subsequent ketoacidosis which accompanied the attack failed.
We called “Man Down” and ultimately got the tower’s attention. We are only 3 cells from one another so I was able to observe the medical response directly (I am a former U.S. Naval Hospital Corpsman attached to Spec-war PAC-Fleet Command), which was panicky, bumbling, and slow . . . far too slow. The comrade did suffer a mild seizure, loss of consciousness, and stopped breathing for a brief period. The nurse administered what I believe was glycogen and epinephrine. After our prompts to staff, he was finally secured to the gurney and transported via ambulance to the hospital, where he was admitted and remains. This stalwart new Afrikan soldier of the people is to be honored, revered, and admired for his unwavering stance in support of our collective basic human rights and dignity.
He remains with us in spirit, as our love, spirit, and dedication to purpose remain with him. We ask for your prayers, your phone calls, and letters – spread the word on Facebook, twitter, and other social media of our stance here, in Pelican Bay D corridor, and across the CDC. Kambui’s spirit endures!! Uhuru Sasa!! Si se puede!!
Currently, here and 4B 1L C-section the new Afrikan collective and southern Mexican collective are in full participation, while our white and northern Mexican brothers are lending their moral support.
On 7/1/11 they came around on 3rd watch and checked ourselves to catalog what food we had, if any. The following today they’ll start weighing us. There are some here with serious medical conditions such as cancer survivors and we anticipate we may well see more hospitalizations, or death, as our collective resolve to see this peaceful protest through to a successful conclusion is adamant. We have documented at least one instance of institutional gang investigators attempting to foment racial divisions here in the torture unit in an attempt to derail or fracture the hunger strike for its solidarity. It, and any other counterintelligence assaults of its kind, will fail.
We again call on everyone who reads these words to support the five point court demands of this peaceful protest as outlined by the Pelican Bay D corridor collective (see: Turning This Tide, July Issue; California Prison Focus, July Issue; or go to “www.barnonearcata.wordpress.com – Archives – PBSP – SHU D-corridor Hunger Strike”). Call or email your local TV station; blog about it on the web; organize support at your local church, mosque, temple, synagogue, or community center; contact your Congressman, Alderman, or local legislature; write and call the governor. Oppose the continued use, expansion and broadening of those psychological torture units in your nation.
Do not allow the prison industrial complex in California Correctional Peace Officers Association (guards union) to continue using us as scape goats to fleece you for billions of your tax dollars to line their pockets, and deny our communities and children greater prosperity and a future brighter tomorrows. Join us in opposing conditions so psychologically torturous that they would compel men to embrace self immolation – even death – as a viable tool of struggle to alter that existence. Dare with us; dare to struggle, dare to win . . . Our love and solidarity to all those who champion freedom, justice, and equality, and fear only failure.
Alucoa continua,
J. Heshima Denhayn
For more information on this N.C.T.T. – Corcoran SHU, or the CAL-SHU Hunger Strike Contact:
Zaharibu Dorrough D-83611 Heshima Denham J-38283 Kambuit Robinson C-82830
CSP-COR-SHU 4B 1L #53 CSP-COR-SHU 4B 1L #46 CSP-COR-SHU 4B 1L #49
PO Box 3481 PO Box 3481 PO Box 3481
Corcoran, CA 93212 Corcoran, CA 93212 Corcoran, CA 93212
***********************************************************************8
Update: 7/3/11 18:45 Hours
There has been an unfortunate development here, and though we knew the probability of this occurring was high, we didn’t know it would come this sudden.
At approximately 1845 hrs. (6:45 pm) for picking up trash and trays from our white and northern Mexican brothers, one of the CEOs here began to call our staunch a beloved brother Haribu Mugabi Soriono’s name repeatedly. He did not respond. She notified the tower “Soriono’s unresponsive, called EMT and notify the watch commander.” Then the alarm was triggered. Multiple custody and medical staff responded, but because Haribu was unconscious he could not comply with their directions to come to the door and cuff-up.
A tactile team was assembled and they entered his cell. As they were putting him in mechanical restraints he regained consciousness briefly, and quickly lost it again. EMTs arrived, he was secured to the gurney and rushed by ambulance to A.C.H. (Hosptial) where he remains. Comrade Haribu is a 57-year-old veteran prisoner and human rights activist who just waged and won a protracted battle with cancer (Leukemia) and suffers from multiple chronic medical conditions, yet he started fasting two days before the hunger strike started, in solidarity with our Afrikan brothers and sisters in the Horn of Afrika suffering famine and death with no food or water because of a 2-year drought.
A beloved brother went five days without eating, knowing his body was already severely damaged to uphold our collective pursuit of basic human rights and dignity. This brother brave death to free us all from torture without end, and to make you all aware that it’s being carried out – right here in the borders of your nation; not halfway around the world in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, or some CIA blacksite – No – Right Here in Pelican Bay, Corcoran, and Tehachapi SHUs; human experimentation torture units are being ran and expanded. Haribu is an inspiration to us all, a hero of the people, and his undaunted fighting spirit abides with us all. Pray for our beloved brother and comrade – pray for us all.
********************************************************
Update: 7/5/11 15:20 Hours
We were again weighed today and her vitals taken an average of 8 to 20 pounds has been lost by those participating (I’ve personally gone from 208 to 188 in 5 days). The Associate Warden and Captain held a sit down with representatives of the population – noting the hunger strike has been taken up SHU wide and on the Main line (3B Yard as well).
Our Brother Zaharibu Dorrough and representatives from the southern Mexican, white, and northern Mexican collectives expressed our collective concerns as outlined in the Pelican Bay collectives five point court demands and our local 602. It appeared to be more of a feeling out session and nothing of substance will be addressed until after a meeting to be held in Sacramento Friday, July 8 at 1300 hrs. (1:00 pm). It is our hope that reason, principal, and humanity prevail as a result continues unwavering. Stand with us. Until we win or don’t lose, we remain firm.
In struggle,
J. Heshima Denham
N.C.T.T. Corcoran SHU
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
----
URGENT: Hunger Striker’s Health Rapidly Deteriorates
Posted on July 12, 2011
From: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition received an urgent update from medical staff at Pelican Bay State Prison that the health of at least 200 hunger strikers in the SHU is rapidly worsening. A source with access to the current medical conditions who prefers to be unnamed reported:
“The prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging consequences of dehydration. They are not drinking water and have decompensated rapidly. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated.“
SHU prisoners at Pelican Bay have said they are willing to risk their lives and will continue to strike until their demands are met. The CDCR continues to refuse to negotiate.
Prisoners across CA continue to refuse food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay SHU hunger strikers.
This past weekend, families and friends sent encouragement and support to their loved ones during weekend visits at prisons across the state, witnessing the toll the hunger strike is taking on their bodies. Families have said their loved ones are extremely pale, shaking and have already lost 20-30 pounds. Some families of prisoners who have only been drinking water for 12 days now witnessed their loved ones faint or go into diabetic shock in visiting rooms over the weekend.
People locked up across the state have been telling their friends and families about the tactics prison officials have been using to break the strike.
Many prisoners have said that medications are being denied to prisoners on hunger strike.
Prisoners have reported that guards in at least Pelican Bay General Population and Calipatria State Prison have been calling throughout blocks and units: “The Hunger Strike is over! The 5 demands have been met!” which is not true. According to family members of prisoners at Calipatria, participation at Calipatria was huge–at least 1,500 prisoners throughout that prison alone joined the hunger strike– until the guards spread rumors of the strike ending. Some prisoners at Calipatria remain on hunger strike, however.
While the CDCR released it’s estimate of 6,600 prisoners participating in the hunger strike during the 4th of July weekend and declared the numbers dropping to over 2,100 in the following days, of course the CDCR failed to mentioned how and why that happened. The decline in numbers in no way demonstrates a lack of support or dedication to this struggle from the prisoners, rather how eager the CDCR is to make this issue go away quickly and quietly.
Families and community organizations like Prison Moratorium Project continue to rally support outside of striking prisons like Corcoran, sharing information and trying to visit their loved ones as regularly as possible. Families and community members are also supporting the strike outside Pelican Bay.
Support for this hunger strike is at a crucial point, where we need to pressure the CDCR to negotiate with the prisoners immediately. Call the CDCR and urge them to negotiate NOW. Also call your legislators and urge them to make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners in good faith. Click here for more info, including a sample script and phone numbers.
***The coalition also needs help getting updates and information to prisoners throughout CA. If you know people who are locked up in CA, please either send us their information or send them updates of the strike, including how people are supporting outside. The Hunger Strikers need our support, and need to know how much support is growing for them outside prison. ***
***An emergency press conference will be held Wed July 13th at 11 am outside the California State Building in San Francisco (Van Ness & McAllister)***
##
Friday, July 8, 2011
NYT: California Inmates Fast to Protest Isolation Cells
Hunger Strike by Inmates Is Latest Challenge to California’s Prison System
By IAN LOVETT- NY Times
Published: July 7, 2011
LOS ANGELES — Thousands of inmates at prisons throughout California have been refusing state-issued food in a mass hunger strike to protest conditions at the state’s highest-security prisons, where some inmates are kept in prolonged isolation.
The protest was organized by inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison’s security housing unit, where prisoners are kept in isolation more than 22 hours a day. They stopped eating on July 1, and prisoners around the state have imitated their campaign. About 1,700 prisoners in all were continuing to refuse at least some state-issued meals on Thursday, down from a peak of 6,600 last weekend, according to the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Although most prisoners have resumed eating, a group of at least two dozen at Pelican Bay, some of whom have been kept in the security housing unit for decades, said they were prepared to starve to death.
“We believe our only option of ever trying to make some kind of positive change here is through this peaceful hunger strike,” Todd Ashker, one of the Pelican Bay inmates who organized the strike, said in a statement conveyed through a lawyer. “And there is a core group of us who are committed to taking this all the way to the death if necessary.”
The hunger strike is only the latest problem for a state prison system that has lurched from one crisis to another in recent years. In May, the United States Supreme Court ordered the state to reduce the population of its overcrowded prisons by more than 30,000 inmates; and in 2005 a court appointed a federal administrator to take control of the faltering prison health care system.
Most of the prisoners who remain on hunger strike are in security housing units like the one at Pelican Bay, where they are kept alone in windowless, soundproof concrete cells. To communicate, they have to yell from one cell to the other, although prisoner-rights activists in contact with the prisoners did not know if this was how they had organized the strike. The lack of human contact often leads to depression and bouts of rage, psychologists say.
Prisoners and activists say that such conditions are cruel and unusual punishment. Most inmates end up in these extreme isolation blocks because of ties to gang activities. To get back into the general prison population, activists say, they are pressured to divulge information about other gang members in prison, a process known as “debriefing,” which can jeopardize their safety.
“We do see this long isolation and debriefing process as torture,” said Carol Strickman, a staff lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an advocacy group in San Francisco. “These are inhumane conditions designed to extract information from someone.”
But a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said that the restrictive conditions at Pelican Bay had been litigated numerous times.
A federal judge appointed a court monitor in 1995 to oversee changes at the security housing unit, including the removal of mentally ill prisoners from the block and an end to the use of excessive force. But he did not order changes to day-to-day conditions there.
Ms. Thornton said the department had received the prisoners’ list of demands, which was being “reviewed and evaluated very thoroughly,” and administrators met with Prison Focus, a prisoner-rights group, on Thursday. But she added that gang members were leading the hunger strike, which only showed the need to separate them from the general prison population.
“The department is not going to be coerced or manipulated,” she said. “That so many inmates in other prisons throughout the state are involved really demonstrates how these gangs can influence other inmates, which is one of the reasons we have security housing units in the first place.”
The hunger strike has transcended the gang and geographic affiliations that traditionally divide prisoners, with prisoners of many backgrounds participating.
But not all were prepared to take the protest as far as Mr. Ashker. All have continued to drink liquids, and some have refused to eat the state-issued food but have drunk Ensure or bought food from the canteen.
Still, if the strike continues — even if only among a handful of inmates at Pelican Bay — doctors may soon have to decide whether to force-feed protesters.
About 2,000 inmates are being medically monitored, with nurses conducting cell-to-cell rounds. At Pelican Bay, most prisoners have refused to meet with doctors.
Every inmate has the right to decline both food and medical care, and he can issue a directive to a doctor not to force-feed him even if he later becomes delirious from starvation. If he does not issue a directive, however, doctors must make judgment calls.
“Doctors have strict ethical guidelines they have to follow about making sure the patient has given informed consent,” said Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the federal health care administrator. “But if they never said, ‘Don’t feed me,’ they have to evaluate on a case-by-case basis.”
A version of this article appeared in print on July 8, 2011, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: California Inmates Fast to Protest Isolation Cells.
For more on the hunger strike go to: http://www.prisons.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/us/08hunger.html?_r=1&hp
By IAN LOVETT- NY Times
Published: July 7, 2011
LOS ANGELES — Thousands of inmates at prisons throughout California have been refusing state-issued food in a mass hunger strike to protest conditions at the state’s highest-security prisons, where some inmates are kept in prolonged isolation.
The protest was organized by inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison’s security housing unit, where prisoners are kept in isolation more than 22 hours a day. They stopped eating on July 1, and prisoners around the state have imitated their campaign. About 1,700 prisoners in all were continuing to refuse at least some state-issued meals on Thursday, down from a peak of 6,600 last weekend, according to the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Although most prisoners have resumed eating, a group of at least two dozen at Pelican Bay, some of whom have been kept in the security housing unit for decades, said they were prepared to starve to death.
“We believe our only option of ever trying to make some kind of positive change here is through this peaceful hunger strike,” Todd Ashker, one of the Pelican Bay inmates who organized the strike, said in a statement conveyed through a lawyer. “And there is a core group of us who are committed to taking this all the way to the death if necessary.”
The hunger strike is only the latest problem for a state prison system that has lurched from one crisis to another in recent years. In May, the United States Supreme Court ordered the state to reduce the population of its overcrowded prisons by more than 30,000 inmates; and in 2005 a court appointed a federal administrator to take control of the faltering prison health care system.
Most of the prisoners who remain on hunger strike are in security housing units like the one at Pelican Bay, where they are kept alone in windowless, soundproof concrete cells. To communicate, they have to yell from one cell to the other, although prisoner-rights activists in contact with the prisoners did not know if this was how they had organized the strike. The lack of human contact often leads to depression and bouts of rage, psychologists say.
Prisoners and activists say that such conditions are cruel and unusual punishment. Most inmates end up in these extreme isolation blocks because of ties to gang activities. To get back into the general prison population, activists say, they are pressured to divulge information about other gang members in prison, a process known as “debriefing,” which can jeopardize their safety.
“We do see this long isolation and debriefing process as torture,” said Carol Strickman, a staff lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, an advocacy group in San Francisco. “These are inhumane conditions designed to extract information from someone.”
But a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman, Terry Thornton, said that the restrictive conditions at Pelican Bay had been litigated numerous times.
A federal judge appointed a court monitor in 1995 to oversee changes at the security housing unit, including the removal of mentally ill prisoners from the block and an end to the use of excessive force. But he did not order changes to day-to-day conditions there.
Ms. Thornton said the department had received the prisoners’ list of demands, which was being “reviewed and evaluated very thoroughly,” and administrators met with Prison Focus, a prisoner-rights group, on Thursday. But she added that gang members were leading the hunger strike, which only showed the need to separate them from the general prison population.
“The department is not going to be coerced or manipulated,” she said. “That so many inmates in other prisons throughout the state are involved really demonstrates how these gangs can influence other inmates, which is one of the reasons we have security housing units in the first place.”
The hunger strike has transcended the gang and geographic affiliations that traditionally divide prisoners, with prisoners of many backgrounds participating.
But not all were prepared to take the protest as far as Mr. Ashker. All have continued to drink liquids, and some have refused to eat the state-issued food but have drunk Ensure or bought food from the canteen.
Still, if the strike continues — even if only among a handful of inmates at Pelican Bay — doctors may soon have to decide whether to force-feed protesters.
About 2,000 inmates are being medically monitored, with nurses conducting cell-to-cell rounds. At Pelican Bay, most prisoners have refused to meet with doctors.
Every inmate has the right to decline both food and medical care, and he can issue a directive to a doctor not to force-feed him even if he later becomes delirious from starvation. If he does not issue a directive, however, doctors must make judgment calls.
“Doctors have strict ethical guidelines they have to follow about making sure the patient has given informed consent,” said Nancy Kincaid, a spokeswoman for the federal health care administrator. “But if they never said, ‘Don’t feed me,’ they have to evaluate on a case-by-case basis.”
A version of this article appeared in print on July 8, 2011, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: California Inmates Fast to Protest Isolation Cells.
For more on the hunger strike go to: http://www.prisons.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/us/08hunger.html?_r=1&hp
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Solidarity hunger strikes expand in California's Gulag
From: LA Times:
Jul 6 2011
By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times
July 6, 2011
Inmates in at least 11 of California's 33 prisons are refusing meals in solidarity with a hunger strike staged by prisoners in one of the system's special maximum-security units, officials said Tuesday.
The strike began Friday when inmates in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison stopped eating meals in protest of conditions that they contend are cruel and inhumane.
Read the rest here.
Jul 6 2011
By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times
July 6, 2011
Inmates in at least 11 of California's 33 prisons are refusing meals in solidarity with a hunger strike staged by prisoners in one of the system's special maximum-security units, officials said Tuesday.
The strike began Friday when inmates in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison stopped eating meals in protest of conditions that they contend are cruel and inhumane.
Read the rest here.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Letters of Support from Ohio: Bomani Shakur of the Lucasville 5, and Sharon Danann to the Pelican Bay Prisoners on Hungerstrike
Letter of Support from Bomani Shakur of the Lucasville 5
2011
Via Kersplebedeb:
Ask anyone who has ever been on a hunger strike, and they will tell you that the process of intentionally starving oneself is a very painful ordeal. Typically speaking, it is a protracted form of suicide; taken too far, the body will shut down and die. And yet, there are places on this planet where the idea of death is preferable to continuing down a path that offers no hope or relief from suffering. I live in such a place; I know.
In January of this year (2011), and after almost thirteen years of solitary confinement at the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP), I and several others went on hunger strike. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. However, after countless appeals to reason had failed, and after coming to the end of all that we could do (law suits, greivances, petitions, etc.) we made the decision to risk our very lives in order to bring about the necessary changes that would allow us to live as human beings. In the end, we stood firm, garnered world-wide support, and prevailed. Now prisoners in California, confined in the notorious Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison, have decided to undertake a similar course of action. To them, I say: Bravo!
In a country that incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world (over 2.6 million men and women behind bars), human rights violations are inevitable, and it falls to those of us who must suffer through the experience to stand up and speak truth to power; for, as Frederick Douglass suggested: "Power concedes nothing without a demand."
In the days to come, the men at Pelican Bay will need each and every one of us to support them, to stand with them as they seek to bring their situation to a tolerable level. What they are demanding is basic:
Individual accountability
Abolish debriefing policy, and modify active/inactive gang status criteria
Comply with US Commission 2006 recommendations regarding an end to long-term solitary confinement
Provide adequate food
Expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU status inmates
Let's come together to assist these men in their time of need and show them that their status as "criminals" does not automatically disqualify them from being human beings. In my time of need, I found this to be the truth and it reaffirmed my faith in humanity. Give these men the opportunity to feel that outpouting of compassion.
And to the men at Pelican Bay (Todd, Danny, et al), I simply want to say: Stay the course; pay attention to what you are doing; and when things get rough (and they will) , know that you are not alone. By and through the activation of what he called "Satygraha," - or truth force - Mahatma Gandhi awakened the largest democracy in the world. In every evil that threatens us, the truth - once known - has the power to set us free. Hold on to that.
The system as it currently exists must change, and this, what you all are doing right now, may very well be the catalyst to bring about that change. Remember that.
And remember this: the first three days are the hardest; after that, it's mind over matter. When the body is brought under control, the mind is set free to receive revelations. Be on the lookout for that; and when they come, when the truth of your situation is revealed, stay in that space. Drink as much water as you can, stay hydrated (read: coffee is a diuretic). And when the time comes, be sure to get everything in writing!
Calling all arms * Calling all arms
Bomani Shakur
Ohio State Penitentiary (2011)
--------------
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/supporting-prisoners-resistance-from-lucasville-to-pelican-bay/
Statement of support from Sharon Danann for the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network:
As supporters of the Lucasville uprising prisoners who engaged in a victorious hunger strike in January 2001 in Ohio’s supermax prison, Ohio State Penitentiary, we extend our support to the Pelican Bay State Prison hunger strikers. The violations of human rights of prisoners must end. The punishment of prisoners for their beliefs and for activities to improve their conditions must end. The illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane use of long-term solitary confinement must end.
The treatment of prisoners in the U.S. is an international scandal. We will do all we can to get the word out about the courageous Pelican Bay hunger strikers. We will be turning up the heat on all levels of government. We are proud to be a part of the prisoners’ movement that is rising up in many parts of the country and world. Onward to victory!!
Click here for an article on the Lucasville struggle by Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network
2011
Via Kersplebedeb:
Ask anyone who has ever been on a hunger strike, and they will tell you that the process of intentionally starving oneself is a very painful ordeal. Typically speaking, it is a protracted form of suicide; taken too far, the body will shut down and die. And yet, there are places on this planet where the idea of death is preferable to continuing down a path that offers no hope or relief from suffering. I live in such a place; I know.
In January of this year (2011), and after almost thirteen years of solitary confinement at the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP), I and several others went on hunger strike. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. However, after countless appeals to reason had failed, and after coming to the end of all that we could do (law suits, greivances, petitions, etc.) we made the decision to risk our very lives in order to bring about the necessary changes that would allow us to live as human beings. In the end, we stood firm, garnered world-wide support, and prevailed. Now prisoners in California, confined in the notorious Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison, have decided to undertake a similar course of action. To them, I say: Bravo!
In a country that incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world (over 2.6 million men and women behind bars), human rights violations are inevitable, and it falls to those of us who must suffer through the experience to stand up and speak truth to power; for, as Frederick Douglass suggested: "Power concedes nothing without a demand."
In the days to come, the men at Pelican Bay will need each and every one of us to support them, to stand with them as they seek to bring their situation to a tolerable level. What they are demanding is basic:
Individual accountability
Abolish debriefing policy, and modify active/inactive gang status criteria
Comply with US Commission 2006 recommendations regarding an end to long-term solitary confinement
Provide adequate food
Expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU status inmates
Let's come together to assist these men in their time of need and show them that their status as "criminals" does not automatically disqualify them from being human beings. In my time of need, I found this to be the truth and it reaffirmed my faith in humanity. Give these men the opportunity to feel that outpouting of compassion.
And to the men at Pelican Bay (Todd, Danny, et al), I simply want to say: Stay the course; pay attention to what you are doing; and when things get rough (and they will) , know that you are not alone. By and through the activation of what he called "Satygraha," - or truth force - Mahatma Gandhi awakened the largest democracy in the world. In every evil that threatens us, the truth - once known - has the power to set us free. Hold on to that.
The system as it currently exists must change, and this, what you all are doing right now, may very well be the catalyst to bring about that change. Remember that.
And remember this: the first three days are the hardest; after that, it's mind over matter. When the body is brought under control, the mind is set free to receive revelations. Be on the lookout for that; and when they come, when the truth of your situation is revealed, stay in that space. Drink as much water as you can, stay hydrated (read: coffee is a diuretic). And when the time comes, be sure to get everything in writing!
Calling all arms * Calling all arms
Bomani Shakur
Ohio State Penitentiary (2011)
--------------
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/supporting-prisoners-resistance-from-lucasville-to-pelican-bay/
Statement of support from Sharon Danann for the Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network:
As supporters of the Lucasville uprising prisoners who engaged in a victorious hunger strike in January 2001 in Ohio’s supermax prison, Ohio State Penitentiary, we extend our support to the Pelican Bay State Prison hunger strikers. The violations of human rights of prisoners must end. The punishment of prisoners for their beliefs and for activities to improve their conditions must end. The illegal, unconstitutional and inhumane use of long-term solitary confinement must end.
The treatment of prisoners in the U.S. is an international scandal. We will do all we can to get the word out about the courageous Pelican Bay hunger strikers. We will be turning up the heat on all levels of government. We are proud to be a part of the prisoners’ movement that is rising up in many parts of the country and world. Onward to victory!!
Click here for an article on the Lucasville struggle by Lucasville Uprising Freedom Network
Friday, July 1, 2011
Events Supporting the Pelican Bay Hungerstrikers and their plight
Agenda of Events Supporting the Pelican Bay Hungerstrikers:
Note from Sis. Kiilu:
Calendar of Events in Solidarity with California Prisoners' Hunger Strike
California - Eureka
July 8: on the lawn in front of Humboldt County Courthouse. 825 Fifth Street Eureka, CA; 5pm. Wear orange to show support for the striking prisoners. For more information: barnonearcata@gmail.com
California - San Francisco
July 1: Rally at California State Building (VanNess and McAllister) at 11am. Come out, bring others, and show your support for the hunger strikers as they begin their action on July 1st. Bring signs. Spread the word! Consider fasting for a day in solidarity with the prisoners. For more info, call: 510-926-5207
July 9: Solidarity Rally in San Francisco, from 11am-1pm @ UN Plaza (Civic Center Bart). Contact: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com
New York - New York City
July 9: Solidarity Picket; 1pm-2pm Harlem State Office Building (corner 125th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Harlem, NYC). Contactnyc@nodeathpenalty.org about NYC action and to endorse.
Virginia - Blacksburg
July 1: 5pm-8pm. Demonstration, meet in front of the post office.
Virginia - Harrisonburg
July 1: 2pm-5pm. Flyering at Court Square.
Washington - Seattle
July 2: Noise demo @ King County Juvenile Detention Center,1211 East Alder Ave (12th Ave & Alder) in the CD; Meet on 12th at the corner of 12th and Alder.3PM. Info: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/725
For a more up to date and extensive list of activities in the u.s., see http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Canada
Montreal
July 1: Film screening of Unlock the Box Reel Soldiers Productions, in English with French whisper translation) 7pm, Maison Norman Bethune, 1918, rue Frontenac, Montréal (métro Frontenac) Free • Tel.: 514 563-1487. For more information: http://maisonnormanbethune.ca/node/304
July 3: 12 pm- Noise Demo @ Montreal prisons. Meet at the corner of René-Levesque & Mackay. RSVP for transportation: montrealcontreprisons@gmail.com.
July 8, 15, and subsequent Fridays:12 - 1.30 pm Picket at the American Consulate. 1155, rue Saint-Alexandre corner René Levesque, metro Place des Arts.
July 16: 1 pm Contractor Crawl, Meet at Dorchester Square, metro Peel to discover some of Montreal's prison contractors
For a more extensive and up to date list of activities in Canada, see http://contrelesprisons.blogspot.com
CLICK HERE TO VIEW INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR OF SOLIDARITY EVENTS
Note from Sis. Kiilu:
I've been on three hunger strikes in my life: the first was 8 days, the second, 11 days, and the third 16 days. I said that to say this: a hunger strike is very serious business; it can really mess with your health after the first several days. Since prisoners have vowed to stay on strike until their demands are met, it behooves us to treat this as an emergency and do everything within our power (individually and collectively) to make their demands our demands of this prison system and the State government. Power to the people. KN========
Calendar of Events in Solidarity with California Prisoners' Hunger Strike
California - Eureka
July 8: on the lawn in front of Humboldt County Courthouse. 825 Fifth Street Eureka, CA; 5pm. Wear orange to show support for the striking prisoners. For more information: barnonearcata@gmail.com
California - San Francisco
July 1: Rally at California State Building (VanNess and McAllister) at 11am. Come out, bring others, and show your support for the hunger strikers as they begin their action on July 1st. Bring signs. Spread the word! Consider fasting for a day in solidarity with the prisoners. For more info, call: 510-926-5207
July 9: Solidarity Rally in San Francisco, from 11am-1pm @ UN Plaza (Civic Center Bart). Contact: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com
New York - New York City
July 9: Solidarity Picket; 1pm-2pm Harlem State Office Building (corner 125th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Harlem, NYC). Contactnyc@nodeathpenalty.org about NYC action and to endorse.
Virginia - Blacksburg
July 1: 5pm-8pm. Demonstration, meet in front of the post office.
Virginia - Harrisonburg
July 1: 2pm-5pm. Flyering at Court Square.
Washington - Seattle
July 2: Noise demo @ King County Juvenile Detention Center,1211 East Alder Ave (12th Ave & Alder) in the CD; Meet on 12th at the corner of 12th and Alder.3PM. Info: http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/node/725
For a more up to date and extensive list of activities in the u.s., see http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Canada
Montreal
July 1: Film screening of Unlock the Box Reel Soldiers Productions, in English with French whisper translation) 7pm, Maison Norman Bethune, 1918, rue Frontenac, Montréal (métro Frontenac) Free • Tel.: 514 563-1487. For more information: http://maisonnormanbethune.ca/node/304
July 3: 12 pm- Noise Demo @ Montreal prisons. Meet at the corner of René-Levesque & Mackay. RSVP for transportation: montrealcontreprisons@gmail.com.
July 8, 15, and subsequent Fridays:12 - 1.30 pm Picket at the American Consulate. 1155, rue Saint-Alexandre corner René Levesque, metro Place des Arts.
July 16: 1 pm Contractor Crawl, Meet at Dorchester Square, metro Peel to discover some of Montreal's prison contractors
For a more extensive and up to date list of activities in Canada, see http://contrelesprisons.blogspot.com
CLICK HERE TO VIEW INTERNATIONAL CALENDAR OF SOLIDARITY EVENTS
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Read it!
Solitary Watch
Nevada Prison Watch
Pelican Bay Hunger Strike Solidarity