6, 000 California Prisoners Resume Hunger Strike,

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CDCR Threatens Disciplinary Action

Press Contact: Isaac Ontiveros
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

California ? Lawyers and mediators received
confirmation from a reliable source today
estimating that 6,000 prisoners statewide are
taking part in a second wave of a massive hunger
strike against inhumane conditions in California
Secure Housing and Administrative Segregation
(Ad-Seg) Units. While California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has not yet
disclosed which prisons are participating, family
members have confirmed that up to 1,000 prisoners
in both the Calipatria State Prison general
population and Ad-Seg units as well as prisoners
at CCI Tehachapi, CSP Centinela and West Valley
Detention Center are refusing food. ?The CDCR is
very tight-lipped about the numbers of prisoners
known to be on hunger strike,? says Molly Porzig,
a member of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
Coalition, ?During the July strike, it took
persistence by journalists to get accurate
figures on how many people and in which prisons.
We assume the same will be true of this strike.?

The prisoners are refusing food to protest what
have been characterized by human rights groups as
torturous conditions in California?s Securing
Housing Units (SHUs) at Pelican Bay, CCI
Tehachapi, CSP Corcoran and Valley State Prison
for Women. Prisoners continue to rally around 5
demands, originating at Pelican Bay, which
include an end to the practice of long term
solitary confinement as well as the policies of
gang validation and debriefing. A prisoner at CCI
Tehachapi recently described the conditions and
reasons for striking: ?The only clothing we are
given in here are socks, boxers and a t-shirt. To
be honest they?re filthy. Now just imagine being
locked in that bathroom for 24 hrs, 7 days a
week, year after year after year for no
legitimate reason. We have only been allowed to
have fresh air for four hours in the past eight months.?

In a September 27 memo signed by Deputy Director
Scott Kernan, the CDCR has threatened
disciplinary action against any prisoners taking
part in the strike as well as placement in Ad-Seg
and the removal of canteen items. The CDCR
recently stated that it had sufficiently
addressed the prisoners? demands and that any
future hunger strikes would not be treated in the
same fashion as the July strike, which lasted for
nearly four weeks. The prisoners maintain that
while they have received some privileges such as
sweat pants, colored pencils and proctored exams,
the CDCR has yet to move on the demands related
to solitary confinement and gang validation.
?Though promises were made at the end of the last
hunger strike, and some progress has been made,
it is painfully slow for people who have lived
under conditions of torture for years, and often
decades in California?s prison system,? says
Laura Magnani, a member of the prisoners?
mediation team and a representative of the
American Friends Service Committee. ?While the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
tries to paint the prisoners as nothing more than
?dangerous gang members,? we see this strike as a
courageous effort to work across all cultural and
ethnic divisions through time honored non-violent actions.?

Many of the prisoners have stated that they
intend to continue their hunger strike until all
of their demands are met, despite the possibility
that they might suffer serious health
consequences. Reports from the July hunger strike
indicated that many of the strikers lost 20-30
pounds and experienced dizziness, fainting and heart arrhythmia.

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