Last week the leaders of the strike decided to continue striking because the CDCR failed to address any of their five core demands during negotiations. The strike is reaching a critical point with reports of dozens of striking prisoners being taken to the infirmary because of irregular heartbeats or fainting.

“What’s most troubling is that the CDCR has not offered anything substantial in response to the prisoner’s demands, which include an end to long term solitary confinement. Some of these guys have been in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) for 20 years or more and are suffering the severe affects of being locked in a 6 x 10 concrete cell for 23 ½ hours a day. What they are asking for are basic human rights.” says Carol Strickman, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and member of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity legal team.

The hunger strikers believe that this is the only way they can get the CDCR to rectify the conditions they are experiencing in the SHU. They believe they have no other recourse. Legal avenues are closed. Communication with the outside world, even with family members, is so restricted as to be meaningless. Possessions - paper and pencil, reading matter, photos of family members, even hand-drawn pictures - are removed. Many of these prisoners have been sent to virtually total isolation and enforced idleness for no crime, not even for alleged infractions of prison regulations. Their isolation, which can last for decades, is often not explicitly disciplinary, and therefore not subject to court oversight. Their treatment is simply a matter of administrative convenience. The UN has characterized their imprisonment as ‘inhumane and degrading’.

Officials at Pelican Bay claim that those incarcerated in the Security Housing Unit are "the worst of the worst." Yet often it is the most vulnerable, especially the mentally ill, not the most violent, who end up in indefinite isolation. Placement is haphazard and arbitrary; it focuses on those perceived as troublemakers or simply disliked by correctional officers and, most of all, alleged gang members. Often, the decisions are not based on evidence. And before the inmates are released from the barbarity of isolation into normal prison conditions (themselves shameful) they are often expected to "debrief," or spill the beans on other gang members. Now refusing to eat is regarded as a threat, too. Authorities are considering force-feeding. It is likely it will be carried out - as it has been, and possibly still continues to be at Guantánamo (in possible violation of international law) and in an evil caricature of medical care. While the CDCR has claimed that there is no medical crisis, mediators report that the principal hunger strikers have lost 25-35 pounds each and have underlying medical conditions of concern.

The 5 Basic demands are:

1. End “Group Punishment & Administrative Abuse
2. Abolish Debriefing Policy & Modify Active/Inactive Gang Status Criteria: People inside prisons should not be categorized and punished as gang members just because another person says they are part of a gang in order to get out of the SHU.
3. Comply with the US Commission on Safety & Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 Recommendations regarding an End to Long-term Solitary Confinement; people want adequate natural sunlight, quality health care and treatment
4. Provide Adequate & Nutritious Food: Not use food as punishment
5. Expand & Provide Constructive Programming & Privileges for Indefinite SHU Status Prisoners: (i.e. visitation, phone calls, mail, radio, etc)

If demands are not met soon, people will begin to die….

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What we can do:

1 - Make calls and write letters of protest to:

Governor Jerry Brown
State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814

TEL: (916) 445-2841

Secretary Matthew Cate
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
1515 S Street
Sacramento 95814
Phone: (916) 323-6001
CDCR Public Affairs Office: (916)445-4950

Sample Script for letters and phone calls:

“My name is _________ . I’m calling about the state wide prisoner hunger strike that began at Pelican Bay. I support the prisoners & their reasonable “five core demands.” I am alarmed by the rapidly deteriorating medical conditions of the hunger strikers & the inaction of the CDCR. I urge you to make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners and the outside mediation team the prisoners have approved, immediately & in good faith, before prisoners are force-fed or even die”.

2 – Make calls and write letters of protest to the US Embassy in your country

3 - If you have a website or blog help promote the hunger strike news

4 – Keep yourself informed:

To sign up to the newsletter send an email to  hstrikenews@yahoo.ca or go to:  http://www.kersplebedeb.com/hungerstrikenews.php

5 – Look here for more ways to get involved :

 http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

6 – Sign the on-line petition:

 http://www.change.org/petitions/support-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay-state-prison

7 - Send this info to friends

8 - Organize a solidarity demonstration or action

9 - Write to the strike leaders at Pelican Bay and send them your words of encouragement and support:

Todd Ashker C-58191
Sitawa N. Jamaa / s.n. Dewberry C-35671
Antonio Guillen P-81948
Lewis Powell B-59864
Paul Redd B-72683
Alfred Sandoval D-61000
Danny Troxell B-76578
James Williamson D-34288
Ronnie Yandell V-27927

All at PBSP, PO Box 7500, Crescent City, CA 95532. USA

10 - Ask local unions, professional groups, or organisations to issue a public declaration of support

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"If they only touch you when you're at the end of a chain, then they can't see you as anything but a dog. Now I can't see my face in the mirror. I've lost my skin. I can't feel my mind." - the effects of long term isolation.