Patricia,

You are clueless about the world of prison. In my line of work, inmates are sophisticated and highly manipulative. A Christmas card supposedly sent from their kids could be soaked in crystal meth. A birthday card sent from their mother could be written in code that says to put a hit on staff or a rival gang. I work in the prison system. I deal with this stuff everyday. The general public is beyond the reach of the criminal mind. Has no clue.

The guys in the SHU are the worst of the worst. They are the ones who have proven themselves many times over to be a threat to both inmates and officers to the point that the prison has to isolate them. Before a guy gets to the SHU he's already been in and out of AdSeg multiple times and probably stabbed or sliced several people or put out confirmed hits.

A peek inside Pelican Bay & the SHU: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeZykGNHQOw

This is caused by low blood pressure (hypotension) as a result of not eating. Unless you are diabetic, no one dies as a mere result of not eating for two weeks. The average human being can go about 45 days without food before showing symptoms. Church groups do it all the time for spiritual reasons. That stuff about the Israelites going 40 days and 40 nights without food is for real.

This woman on Youtube goes through three 40-day consecutive fasts (for a total of 120 days!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ixZICyJJck

"Prisoners have also been denied medications, including prescriptions for high blood pressure."

I can understand this. Though it sounds bad, technically you are not supposed to give blood pressure medication to someone who stops taking food for more than a few days. It is dangerous. The medication could force your blood pressure to go low and cause you to go into coma. When you deprive yourself of food, your blood pressure naturally dips way down. This must have been at the recommendation of medical staff.