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Hunger strike organizer: Ad-Seg/ASU units are bad news
December 13, 2011
It’s a good thing to have exposure of torture going on in the Ad/Segs. We’d included all SHUs and Ad/Seg units from the beginning in our formal complaint. We all need to be united and work together on making the wrongs in this system right! It’s critical to include ASUs in the process of challenging SHU issues!
They took the 15 of us hunger strikers to ASU-Hell-Row
December 13, 2011
We were placed on Hell-Row for “concentrated torture.” Yes, we were placed in ice cold cells and given nothing. The cold blowers were deliberately turned on to intensify our suffering in Ad-Seg in order to try and get us to eat. Each and every one of us refused to eat.
Mainline prisoners moved to San Quentin’s West Block must clean the filth, do without power, heat
December 9, 2011
The conditions inside San Quentin’s West Block are inhumane and uninhabitable. They are in cells with no power. A lot of the toilets don’t flush. The men are trying to clean the feces off the walls themselves. There is ankle deep standing water in the showers and black mold on the walls.
Being labeled the worst of the worst
December 8, 2011
From the very first day of my incarceration, I was placed in security housing for no justifiable reason. Now, nearly 17 years later, without reprieve, I find myself still in a security housing unit in the absence of a single serious rule infraction.
We are willing to sacrifice ourselves to change our conditions
November 25, 2011
We all were willing to die in a hunger strike to get attention and changes to a flawed validation policy, where prisoners are kept in solitary confinement indefinitely by fabricated tales by prison informants and officers. So we are truly committed to seeing this out and sacrificing ourselves.
A people’s revolution: It’s time!
November 11, 2011
We understand the importance of unity and how our oppressors have played us against each other for far too long. We can probably never get rid of agents/snitches/pig informants but to awake and realize what George’s concept really was about, a people’s revolution. It’s time!
CDCR: Bay View is contraband for mentioning George Jackson and Black August
November 7, 2011
About two weeks ago, the IGI (Institutional Gang Investigator) searched my cell in SHU and confiscated my Bay View newspapers, saying they are contraband if any articles speak on George Jackson or Black August. They said that the newspaper with said articles would be used to re-validate me at my six-year review. I should not be penalized for a newspaper article.
Persecution for our political beliefs
November 6, 2011
I was validated as a prison gang member on one source of false information, even though CDCR regulations require “three (3) independent sources of information that is proven to be reliable.” Being falsely accused of prison gang membership and consequently being housed in SHU/CMU indefinitely amounts to state sponsored persecution for our political beliefs.
Fire Inside: 15 years of giving voice to women and transgender prisoners in California
October 14, 2011
For 15 years the California Coalition for Women Prisoners – activists on the outside together with prisoners on the inside – have published an extraordinary newsletter called the Fire Inside. Hear Angela Davis keynote the anniversary celebration, hosted by our own Wanda Sabir, Friday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m., at the Women’s Building, 3543 18th St. at Valencia, San Francisco.
Hunger strikers at Pelican Bay end strike after nearly three weeks; strike continues at other prisons
October 13, 2011
Mediators who met with hunger strike representatives at Pelican Bay confirm that prisoners there have decided to stop their hunger strike after nearly three weeks. The prisoners have cited a memo from CDCR detailing a comprehensive review of every SHU prisoner in California whose SHU sentence is related to gang validation.
Medical condition of hunger strikers deteriorates, some days away from death
October 11, 2011
With the second phase of a massive California prisoner hunger strike in its third week, prisoners have begun to report grave medical issues. Prisoners at Corcoran have stated, “Due to what they have done here to us, some men have stopped drinking water completely, so we may well be close to death in a few days.”
Prisoners being frozen to break hunger strike; some quit, some willing to die for their rights
October 8, 2011
The numbers of strikers began dropping this week from the 12,000 refusing food a few days ago, after the CDCR intensified retaliation against them, such as air conditioning the small concrete cells at 50 degrees. The hunger strike representatives at Pelican Bay were moved to Administrative Segregation, while at least one inmate on strike who was denied medications has suffered a heart attack. Readers are urged to pressure Gov. Jerry Brown to tell CDCR to meet the prisoners’ five core demands and cease all retaliation against the hunger strikers. Call (916) 445-2841.
12,000 California prisoners on hunger strike
October 4, 2011
As the renewed prisoner hunger strike enters its second week, the federal receiver’s office reports that at least 12,000 prisoners were participating during the first week. Family members of striking SHU prisoners reported that their visits this weekend were denied by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which is threatening participants with disciplinary action and banning two lawyers who represent the strikers. “Historically, prison officials have used extreme measures, including physical violence to break strikes,” says Dorsey Nunn, a member of the mediation team working on behalf of the strikers.
California prisons: Torture by any means necessary
September 28, 2011
Solitary confinement in the Pelican Bay State Prison Security Housing Unit (SHU) is a reflection of our inhumane treatment and clearly violates our constitutional rights under the First, Fifth, Eighth and 14th Amendments.
California prisoners resume hunger strike today
September 26, 2011
Today, prisoners at Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit (SHU) and Calipatria’s Administrative Segregation Unit (Ad-Seg or ASU) resume their hunger strike. Referring to the first round of the hunger strike, Mutope Duguma (s/n James Crawford), a strike representative in Pelican Bay’s SHU, writes, “This is far from over and once again, hopefully for the last time, we will be risking our lives via a peaceful hunger strike on Sept. 26, 2011, to force positive changes. We continue to struggle to be treated like decent human beings.”
Starving in solitary: California prison hunger strikers’ health declines, but state will not negotiate
July 16, 2011
How long does it take for a man on hunger strike to starve to death? The answer depends on what kind of physical shape that man was in to begin with. In 1981, it took the 10 Irish Republican hunger strikers – who were drinking water – from 46 to 73 days to die in Britain’s Maze Prison outside Belfast. Will it come to this is California? Based on the response so far from the state, it appears that it could.
Corrections officials accede to pressure, begin negotiating with hunger strikers as their health deteriorates
July 15, 2011
With the Pelican Bay prison hunger strike entering its third week, mediators reported Thursday that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has responded to pressure from strikers and outside supporters, beginning initial negotiations with strike leaders in the prison’s Security Housing Unit, along with an outside mediation team. Some of the strikers’ health has deteriorated to near-fatal levels. Many fear that time is running out.
URGENT: Hunger strikers’ health rapidly deteriorating
July 13, 2011
Medical staff at Pelican Bay State Prison say that the health of at least 200 hunger strikers in the SHU is rapidly worsening. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have been unable to make urine for three days. Some are having measured blood sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated. Families witnessed their loved ones faint or go into diabetic shock in visiting rooms over the weekend.
Action update: California admits 6,600 prisoners are on hunger strike
July 10, 2011
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reports that as of Friday, July 8, at least 6,600 prisoners in at least 13 of the state’s prisons have joined the hunger strike initiated at Pelican Bay on July 1. Push the state to negotiate with prisoners at Pelican Bay and immediately implement their demands.
Mehserle shooting of Oscar Grant considered a non-violent offense
May 24, 2011
Because California penal code does not classify involuntary manslaughter as a “violent” or “serious” offense, Johannes Mehserle, the convicted killer of Oscar Grant, could be released as early as mid-June of this year, after serving less than one year behind bars.