Day 29: Police Arrest 7 Prison Hunger Strike Supporters at State Building

[annm4peace]

http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/police-arrest-7-prison-hunger-strike-supporters-at-state-building/



After locking themselves to the main entrance of the Elihu M. Harris State Building in downtown Oakland for several hours, protesters moved inside the building, where they were arrested. Protesters said their action was in support of prisoners on strike throughout California and demanded that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and Governor Brown enter into direct negotiations with strikers. “Solitary confinement is widely and internationally recognized as torture,” Said the prostesters. “The hunger strikers and their family members are making a powerful and inspiring stand for dignity in the face of this inhumane treatment. We stand with them. Governor Brown and the CDCR, negotiate immediately to meet their five demands.”

Monday’s protest comes on the heels of weekend rallies in support of hunger strikers in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, and in front of the notorious San Quentin State Prison. Families of Solano Prisoners, the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, and Legal Services for Prisoners with Children also held a protest at Solano State prison to protest CDCR attempts to transfer prisoners from Solano to Pleasant Valley and Avenal prisons, despite an ongoing active Valley Fever epidemic at those facilities.


Call Governor Jerry Brown
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Suggested script: I’m calling in support of the prisoners on hunger strike. The governor has the power to stop the torture of solitary confinement. I urge the governor to compel the CDCR to enter into negotiations to end the strike. RIGHT NOW is their chance to enter into clear, honest negotiations with the strikers to end the torture.

[annm4peace]

1. Surprising article in McClatchy newspaper.. it tells of "horror" in American prisons

I was shocked to read such an article.. especially when they included U.N. special rapporteur on torture comment.
If you click on the article please "share" or like it so it gets more attention. thanks!

http://www.vindy.com/news/2013/aug/05/prisoners-demand-an-end-to-solitary/

By David A. LOVE

McClatchy-Tribune

A hunger strike taking place in the California prison system is an urgent reminder about the horror that is solitary confinement in America. Every day behind prison walls, California and other states are subjecting prisoners to psychological torture by use of solitary confinement.

Since early July, thousands of prisoners in California state prisons have refused meals and their work duties, in protest of the state’s odious solitary confinement policy. Nearly 30,000 prisoners initially participated in the protest, making it the largest strike of its kind in state history. A 2011 protest of 6,600 inmates led to promises for reform, yet few inmates were released from the hole.

California currently holds more than 10,000 in solitary confinement, with hundreds languishing under these conditions, in isolation, for 20 or even 30 years.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, most of the 80,000 people kept in solitary confinement in America are severely mentally ill or being punished for a minor infraction.

In 2011, Juan Mendez, a U.N. special rapporteur on torture, called for an immediate international ban on solitary confinement except in rare circumstances, given the lasting mental illness that even short stints of a few days can produce. And he called for an absolute prohibition on solitary confinement with a duration of more than 15 days and for the mentally disabled and juveniles.


“Solitary confinement should be banned by states as a punishment or extortion technique,” Mendez told the U.N. General Assembly. “Considering the severe mental pain or suffering solitary confinement may cause, it can amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

In 2012, Amnesty International denounced solitary confinement in two California prisons, calling it “cruel, degrading and inhuman.” It noted that often “prisoners are confined for relatively minor infractions of rules or disruptive behavior.”

Long-term confinement

Prisoners are right to demand an end to long-term solitary confinement. And while that is their rallying cry, the hunger strike has become a focal point for prisoners and their supporters who demand a reform to the penal system and conditions behind bars in general.

On behalf of California’s 130,000 inmates, the striking prisoners are also seeking other reforms, including an end to group punishment for the actions of individuals, adequate and nutritious food, and constructive programming and privileges, such as a weekly phone call and expanded visiting.

In today’s prisons, punishment for punishment’s sake, not rehabilitation, is the name of the game, and the mass hunger strike against solitary confinement and basic conditions is proof of that. Solitary confinement is torture, a living tomb, and the type of practice the United States condemns when other nations practice it.

America must match its actions with its rhetoric and stop solitary confinement now.

David A. Love is the executive director of Witness to Innocence, a national organization of exonerated former death row prisoners and their families. He wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Distributed by MCT Information Ser

[davidn3600]

3. Most of the public doesn't care

The public has zero sympathy for prisoners and wants them to suffer. Most people dont want prison to be about rehabilitation.

And that's why for-profit prisons are such a horrific idea. Our society is quite bad when it comes to the issue of prisoners. This is a very unpopular part of our population and can be exploited and abused very easily. The government and public are willing to turn the other way while it happens.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

2. K&R n/t