UPDATE: The Bay Area group Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity released the above video yesterday, which gives a brief recap of the issues that sparked the original hunger strike and calls for public support.
Original post:
This morning at 11, prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison began their third hunger strike in the past two years as a way to protest conditions inside the prison’s Secure Housing Units — aka “the SHU” — where inmates are held in small, windowless cells for 22 1/2 to 24 hours per day. Some of them have been there for decades.
The strikers allege that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has failed to honor promises made two years ago, in the wake of the first strike. Last month, SHU inmates announced that a “nonviolent peaceful protest of our subjection to decades of indefinite state-sanctioned torture” would resume today.
The protest will include not just the hunger strike but also a work stoppage, and it will continue, they said, “until CDCR signs a legally binding agreement meeting our demands, the heart of which mandates an end to long-term solitary confinement (as well as additional major reforms).”
“We are certain that we will prevail,” the inmates said in a written statement — “the only question being: How many will die starvation-related deaths before state officials sign the agreement?”
The strikers have five core demands:
1. Eliminate group punishments and administrative abuse.
2. Abolish the debriefing policy and modify active/inactive gang status criteria.
3. Comply with the recommendations of the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons recommendations and end long-term solitary confinement.
4. Provide adequate and nutritious food.
5. Create and expand constructive programming.
For some background, here’s the Journal‘s September 2011 cover story on Pelican Bay and a follow-up on a federal class-action lawsuit filed on the prisoners’ behalf by the Center for Constitutional Rights. That lawsuit is ongoing.
The first round of this hunger strike started inside Pelican Bay’s SHU on July 1, 2011, eventually spreading to more than 6,000 inmates in at least 13 of California’s 33 prisons. Inmates and their advocates allege that prolonged periods of solitary confinement amounts to torture and that the system for placing inmates in the SHU — and for getting released — violates their rights to due process.
In May, Mother Jones magazine named Pelican Bay one of America’s 10 worst prisons. A change.org petition in support of the strikers had gathered nearly 15,000 signatures by Monday evening.
A group of Humboldt County protesters made the drive up to the gates of Pelican Bay, just north of Crescent City, and today they set up along the side of the road with signs and a banner announcing their solidarity with the prisoners.
This article appears in Star-Spangled Rainbow.
It is even worse they have now turned off the hot water for the SHU inmates and they are not receiving written correspondence. They are being woken up every 30 minutes and I have a relative at Pelican Bay and have received only brief postcards who sent me out this information not just to me but another Family member. If you are sending mail to them number your mail. Tell the inmate you are writing that you are doing this. Postcards get through at times. So send postcards number them and keep track and send postcards telling them what you have sent and how many they should have received. Don’t stop writing they need the mail. BOOKS AND MAGAZINES ARE GETTING THROUGH IF YOU CAN ORDER THEM DO SO. It helps them get through this. Amazon is a good place to order from. They get them shipped quickly. Make sure you have the Inmates number on the shipping address and the exact address. They need to stay focused and know that they have their Families and friends out here to get them through this. If you can, write every single day until this is over. Postcards that are plain and prestamped can be purchased at any postoffice you can send an inmate 20 at a time and can use them to write to them as well. As I said postcards seem to get through. If you have a Family Member or friend in there keep writing and eventually they will have to get their mail. Call and ask for The Public Relations officer if you have to ask why no mail is being received. If you are not receiving responses from an inmate start writing or contacting the prison and do not give up.
The entire concept of administrative segregation needs to be looked at revised to meet ACA standards of practice and custodial reviews, documentation and standards.. It is in the best interest of the CDCR and California taxpayers to look into this matter deeply and gain insight on something that has been kept secret for years and now finally making it to the front pages like never before. The five demands are not realistic and should be negotiated on a smaller scale locally to pick up cultures, practices and biases that interfere with operational efficiency and compliance to their own (CDCR) rules.
Today my heart is grieved as I ponder about the conditions and abuse these men endure as I sit and think. About my son because he is one of the ones in the shu my prayer is that not one life will be lost and that there conditions are ment that as a community we would come together and pray for the protection of these inmates because they are someone’s father brother son husband keep them in prayer I’m sure that there are those that have an opinion and that’s fine but would you still feel like that if it were your son or family member in the shu and god help those that have forgotten how to treat these men as human beings I submitt to you pray for our inmates
From
A praying mother
Pure heart
Has anyone stop to think about the victims of the offenders. A lot of these men are murderers. They still get to see their families. The victims don’t and neither do their children. They the inmates need to think twice before commiting a crime. You can’t live as if u were out on streets that’s why they call it sentenced for your crime so now do the time with what ever conditions it comes along with. My family suffered from losing my uncle he was an innocent by stander that was murdered by mistaken identity he never got to raise his 2 children and the kids miss him dearly. The people who did lived in luxury with tvs food and got to have their families visit. What do my cousin get ? Nothing but visit a cemetery. So I’ve read some of demands and they r pretty silly. More channels healthy food and more snacks and more visits to law library, really? How about all you people support the victims and their families for suffering not the inmate and reward them for the crime they committed. Our tax dollars are going to the inmates in rewarding them for the crime. This is bs , if inmates want to starve I say let them. They are just having their annual tantrums.
yes they might be bad people inside that prison but thats no excuse!!!!!!!!!!! at the end of the day we are humans gods childrens!!!!!!! they need to be treated like humans….every single person should be in a small room like them for a month and have the same treatment they get and see what they after,,,,you cant judge when your not in there shoes!!!!!
To those individuals that are ignorant to this peaceful protest, may I suggest educate yourself before you start running your mouth. First of all we are not denying that these are not criminals, hell they are criminals that got caught. Murderers some may be, but when our Justice System sentenced each one of them. The Judge did not say “YOU WILL BE LOCKED IN A CELL FOR 23HRS A DAY, YOU WILL BE SUBJECTED TO INHUMANE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TORTURE, YOU WILL NEVER SEE SUNLIGHT AGAIN, NOR WILL YOU EVER HAVE ANY HUMAN CONTACT!!!!etc. No this was not the sentence of any prisoner no matter how many people they killed. None of them are Rapists nor are they Child Molesters. Now I will go back to passing out flyers educating individuals of the INHUMANE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TORTURE THESE MEN ENDURE. ANGIE
I have a dear friend in the SHU he is my dearest friend words cannot describe the live I have for him. Yes he has comitted a crime but he is in prison for this. Should we treat him worse than a dog, make him suffer?? He is still a human being!! Hes in prison un able to call his mother ,his kids who suffer as well for not being able to hear the words I Love You from their father or feel his touch! How can these people who are xausing so much suffering sleep at night, they are just as bad as the prisoners the are torturing!
I myself was an inmate I commited a crime at 17 and served a 5 year sentenced..the correctional officers treat us worst then you would treat an animal..i agree some of us committed crimes that are very bad but that doesnt make us bad persons…just people that hace made bad choices..everybody is entitled to an opinion so theres no right or wron
Yes many of us have stopped to think about the victims of the crimes that have been committed. But if you have never had a family member or friend or loved one in the SHU, you have zero idea what it is like. And as for victims, my brother is in the SHU and has never been convicted of harming anyone. He is in there for being accused of being associated and for drugs. No matter what they did they deserve humane treatment. Our Father was murdered when I was seven and he was 3 years old. That person got away with it without ever spending a day behind bars. So we know what it is like to be a victim as well. Holding back written correspondence and hot water and waking them up every thirty minutes is NOT ok. We just lost our Grandmother and Mother within 2 months of one another. Not being able to know if he is ok or correspond with him right now is heartbreaking for me so before you judge these men, realize they all belong to someone. Someone’s Son, Brother, Father, someone’s loved one who is going through all of this with them. It is not just them that does the time but it is their families as well. My Brother takes full reaponsibility for his actions and blames no one for anything that caused him to be there. While he is there it is the Prison’s responsibility to see that he is treated with human dignity. There are many individuals at Pelican Bay that work there that do care about these men. I have met them and had conversations with them many times. It is the system that has to change. None of us want our Family members on a hunger strike it is horrible to worry each and every waking moment if they are ok. It is heartbreaking. To not know is a terrifying feeling when you just want one letter or a postcard to be in your mailbox to know they are ok. It becomes part of your prayers every single night to pray to keep them safe and to please receive some kind of mail.
Lets remember!!!! You only go to Pelican Bay because you were a problem prisoner at a previous location. Of course all the prisoners deny it, because we all know they were all framed and there are all these poor innocent people in jail. NOT!!! Everyone at Pelican Bay was either continuing their lifestyle of gangs and crime even after their sentencing. Having been caught ordering murders in the prisons and in the streets, and continuing to run organized crime from prison cells. So did they choose to better themselves after they were convicted, or did they choose to continue on with the behavior and lifestyle that got them incarcerated in the first place. In most cases it is the latter. Again, not all prisons have these extreme conditions, they are only for the prisoners who stay hard headed and refuse to get their shit together. Treated worse than animals?? Last I saw, a pitbull was KILLED for attacking a human being. Not even killing a person, but just because the dog showed signs if being violent its DEAD! Also DEAD are the victims of these criminals. Criminals who show no remorse, but instead show signs of entitlement and continue to live the same lifestyle while in prison that got them put in prison. All the kids and families who lost fathers sons uncles grandpas etc. live everyday with that loss. Believe me the grief does not go away!!!!!
My prayers go out to all the inmates and hope that their demands are met peacefully and quick. Also, i would like to send a shout out to MANUEL CHAVEZ who is currently in the SHU. Stay strong, and know that you have many supporters out here! ….Kelly G Ford
Prayer to all the inmates from all participating prisons that u stay strong, healthy, and most of all that all ur commands get met.. Shout out to Phillip Armenta @ PBSP SHU
I’ve read various comments of heartless people defending the victims of the criminals behind bars. I’ve read various comments of the uneducated defending the criminals. True crimes were committed, men were charged, arrested and sentenced. Some of the crimes ended the lives of people in one form or another…loss & pain is a horrible thing. The ones lost suffer no more, or so we hope. The other inmates may very well not be ideal prisoners, but life in prison is worse than any barrio, ghetto or “bad” neighborhood you could imagine. The basic needs of a human should and need to be met. The inmates should not be treated as if they’re on a vacation, however our country is responsible for them, for their fair treatment, their rehabilitation and insertion back into society. SHU inmates are there for a reason, regardless of why….the rights don’t change, nor do they change on the main line or a Special Needs Yard. Treating them with less than the basics they deserve makes each one in charge of these inmates a criminal themselves.