30,000 California Prisoners Start Largest Hunger Strike in US History

Local Editor

Around 30,000 inmates held in prisons across California have taken the first steps towards engaging in what could become the largest hunger strike in state history.

Prisoners at 11 state facilities began refusing meals early Monday, after months of plotting a demonstration which they hope will bring change to a number of longstanding grievances against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation - particularly the practice of indefinitely housing some detainees in total isolation.

In a letter obtained by the LA Times, protesters reportedly demanded that the state retire its current solitary confinement policies and allow inmates accused of prison gang involvement to spend a maximum of only five years in isolation.
Currently there is no limit on how long inmates thought to be connected to internal gangs can spend in Segregated Housing Units [SHUs]. According to the LA Times, 4,527 inmates at four state prisons are now living in such units - including 1,180 at Pelican Bay State Prison in northern California, where the demonstration was hatched.

The media report states that inmates are also seeking education and rehabilitation programs, as well as the right to make monthly phone calls.
Prisoners in California have held similar protests before, including a 2011 hunger strike which originated at Pelican Bay and eventually accumulated the support of 6,000 inmates across the state.

According to the inmates, the California prison system currently holds over 10,000 prisoners in solitary confinement units, including dozens who have spent more than 20 years each in isolation. Gabriel Reyes, who has spent 16 years in an SHU, wrote a letter published this week by Truth-Out. "I understand I broke the law, and I have lost liberties because of that. But no one, no matter what they've done, should be denied fundamental human rights, especially when that denial comes in the form of such torture," he wrote.

Source: RT, Edited by website team