By guest author Dr. Nancy Arvold
Thirty thousand prisoners across California began a hunger strike on July 8, 2013. This desperate, life-threatening measure was led by a multiracial coalition of prisoners in solitary confinement who have been fighting for prison reform for decades. (Organizations such as Amnesty International, the United Nations, and Center for Constitutional Rights have declared that solitary confinement is torture.)
The California Department of Corrections (CDC) had failed to respond in good faith after two hunger strikes in 2011. In fact, the “pilot program” they proposed would have resulted in more men receiving indefinite sentences in SHU (Secure Housing Units).
The prisoners called on lawyers and activists to support their demands. The Prisoner Hunger Strike Support Coalition was formed and currently focuses on media support and coverage, regular protests and rallies, pressuring the CDC and Governor Jerry Brown, and providing public education.
The unquestionably reasonable demands are paraphrased below:
- End group punishment and administrative abuse (used as an alternative to punishing individuals for violence and other crimes).
- Provide adequate and nutritious food (reports of meals are disgusting).
- Expand and provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU-status inmates (Currently prisoners are not allowed, e.g., to take college courses, get phone calls or have face-to-face visits).
- Abolish/modify the criteria for gang membership for indefinite sentences to the SHU (decades in many cases). “Gang membership” is often determined by unverified reports from confidential “informants” and ethnic art seen as “gang insignia.”
- Have CA prisons comply with 2006 recommendations by the U.S. Commission on Safety and Abuse to end long-term solitary confinement (beyond 15 days).
The strike has stopped and the prisoners’ grievances are being considered, as shown in the video at the beginning of this post. Read more about the strike and California prison reform, and consider what you can do to help this country move away from its violation of international antitorture laws and the use of our prisons as torture chambers.
Nancy Arvold, Ph.D., MFT, is a marriage and family counselor who is concerned with issues of social justice, including prison justice, the “occupy” movement, immigration, and detainees.