Intolerable conditions at the SHU (Security Housing Unit) in California's Pelican Bay prison inspired hunger strikes this summer. The strikes spread through other prisons during the month of July, and after weeks of hunger striking in some cases, it ended on July 21st when the CDCR (CA Dept. of Corrections & Rehabilitation) agreed to a major policy review and good faith consideration of the prisoners' demands.
Sadly, it appears the negotiations have led back to a new hunger strike, although it took me a few days to discover the news; once again, it seems to have begun rather quietly. I couldn't find another mention of it on DKos, so I think it's worth pointing out.
I found some of this through Colorlines; they spoke with Isaac Ontiveros, a member of Prison Hunger Strike Solidarity, about what's happened since the hunger strike ended in July.
Ontiveros said in the interim, prison inmates reported that not only had those negotiations gone nowhere, but prison guards had also begun intimidating and retaliating against those who had organized or participated in the hunger strike this summer. Prisoners have been being issued “115’s,” a kind of writeup in the California prison system that is reserved for violent infractions like stabbings committed in prison, Ontiveros said, for as little as talking in the prison library or not walking fast enough for guards. Being issued a 115 can result in more prison time, or a transfer to the SHU.
More recent updates on the latest hunger strike can be found here. You can find a change.org petition in support of the prisoners' five core demands, which may take a moment out of your day to sign. It may be time for Governor Jerry Brown to hear from his constituents and fellow liberals, again, about this. You can follow that link for his mailing address, phone, fax, and an online email form.
As before, the CDCR is doing its best to downplay the scale of the hunger strike, that'll keep the story quiet eh? But it does appear to be receiving some media attention, if not much.
I still have no idea what is so fundamentally wrong with these prisoners' demands, that instead of, say, fulfilling them, instead the prisoners are being mistreated and the negotiation has gone almost nowhere.
1. Indefinite SHU assignment. Prisoners can still expect to live for years and decades in solitary confinement even with the new reforms. There is no time limit.
2. Debriefing policies. Prisoners are still validated as gang affiliates based on jailhouse informant testimony that is not corroborated by other evidence.
3. Expansion of SHU. General population yards at Pelican Bay and Tehachapi are currently being converted to solitary confinement.
4. Mentally and physically torturous confinement. Cells with no or only opaque windows, limited time out of cells (should be 90 min. a day but routinely only half that), and no other human interaction or direct touch except by guards.
5. Inadequate food. The new reforms contain no plan to improve food quality to minimally nutritional levels.
6. Medical abuse and neglect. The reforms continue to allow gang investigators to override medical decisions for treatment. Prisoners approved for medical transfer to a hospital are being held back by gang investigators to suffer with treatable conditions due to alleged "safety risks." One prisoner died recently of cancer after being left untreated even by pain medication in his cell.
7. Corrupt practices. Prisoners who stand up to wrongful acts by guards are quickly validated as gang affiliates and sent to indefinite solitary confinement.
Best I can tell from reading the summer's updates at prisons.org, they've gotten some watch cap beanies and some legislative hearings to show for it all. That and getting harassed, retaliated upon, and sent to the SHU that's the whole cause of the problem in the first place.