California Prison Conditions behind largest Hunger Strike in State History

Global Reserch

Since July 8 thousands of inmates across California’s vast prison system have been engaged in the largest hunger strike in state history. The mass inmate opposition is being directed towards deteriorating prison conditions and the use of indefinite solitary confinement practices, a form of state-sanctioned torture. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) issued a press release on Thursday officially acknowledging, for the first time, the hunger strike that has rocked 24 of the 33 state prisons it oversees, in addition to the four out-of-state for-profit facilities utilized by the state.

The hunger strike, which at its peak saw 30,000 inmates refusing meals, continues to attract broad support. According to the CDCR press release, nearly 12,500 inmates have refused at least nine consecutive meals––the threshold set by the department for a hunger strike––since the start of the mass statewide action against prison conditions on Monday. “In addition,” the statement read, “1,336 inmates have refused to participate in their work assignments or attend educational classes.”

The CDCR warned inmates that they “could face disciplinary action” for engaging in a “mass disturbance,” such as a coordinated hunger strike or work stoppage, both of which are considered “violations of state law.” In order to “maintain normal program operations,” the CDCR further warned that it could potentially “take additional measures to effectively monitor and manage hunger strikers and their nutritional intake,” a statement that appears to threaten the force-feeding of inmates.

As of this month, according to the most recent CDCR figures available, California incarcerates approximately 133,000 individuals in its prison system, with nearly 9,000 of those being housed in out-of-state facilities run by private firms. Often with little or no public accountability, these for-profit prisons are given contracts by the state to house the “excess” or “overflow” from California’s publicly run facilities. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which operates the private facilities California utilizes outside the state, is the largest for-profit “corrections corporation” in the United States. Utilizing facilities located in Arizona, Mississippi and Oklahoma, California’s decision to transfer inmates to these private prisons has created additional barriers, both geographical and financial, for family members who now have to travel out of the state.

[...] Continue

By Richard Vargas, Juan Verala Luz and Jake Dean