Human Rights Hunger Strike in California Prisons (Pt. 2)

Written by: Azadeh Zohrabi

In part two of this Hunger Strike series, I will focus on the Hunger Strikers first demand: an end to group punishment and administrative abuse. Since this is a two part demand, I will address each one separately.
(Part 1 of the Hunger Strike series can be found here)

Group Punishment:

The California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation (CDCR) uses race as one of the main factors in the classification, placement and punishment of all inmates in CDCR custody. Inmates are assigned to their cells based on race, the recreation areas they use are segregated by race and group punishments are implemented based on race.[1] The most common form of group punishment is a lock-down status which restricts inmates’ access to family and programming.

During the years that I’ve spent visiting at various prisons in California, I’ve seen that it is common for an entire race group to be placed on lock-down for months at a time based on the actions of one or a few. Family members who visit regularly know to call the CDCR hotline the night before and morning of the visit to see if our loved ones are on lock-down, because it is so common. When inmates are on lock-down, they aren’t allowed visits or phone calls and are “denied access to the exercise yard, the canteen, law library, day-room and laundry.”[2] During a lock-down, the only time allowed outside of cells is for showers and sometimes even those are restricted.

A lock down status can be applied to an individual, a group of individuals, a housing unit or the entire facility whenever prison administrators believe a lock-down is warranted. Prior to the current Hunger Strike, Pelican Bay had been on lock-down from January through April, with inmates reporting that they hadn’t had time out of their cells for yard during that time.[3]

Clarence Darrow's Address to Prisoners in Cook County Jail in 1902

Added by Francisco Sánchez

One of the goals of our blog is to share what inspires us as a journal. Although Clarence Darrow is a towering figure for those fighting for social justice, did the myth of Darrow dilute what the man really stood for? Darrow was more than the grandiose litigator that represented Leopold and Loeb, Communists, teachers of evolution, unions, and Black families when such causes were unpopular.  He was a dreamer hoping for the greatest of American revolutions: the abolition of the American criminal justice system.

All words by Clarence Darrow - Excerpts from his Address to Cook County Prisoners, 1902

"If I looked at jails and crimes and prisoners in the way the ordinary person does, I should not speak on this subject to you. The reason I talk to you on the question of crime, its cause and cure, is that I really do not in the least believe in crime. There is no such thing as crime as the word is generally understood. I do not believe there is any sort of distinction between the real moral conditions of people in and out of jail. One is just as good as the other. The people here can no more help being here than the people outside can avoid being outside. I do not believe that people are in jail because they deserve to be. They are in jail simply because they cannot avoid it on account of circumstances which are entirely beyond their control and for which they are in no way responsible.

Human Rights Hunger Strike in California Prisons (Pt. 1)

Written by Azadeh Zohrabi

On July 1, 2011, inmates in the Security Housing Units (SHU) of Pelican Bay State Prison and Corcoran State Prison began a hunger strike to protest a variety of inhumane policies and practices that take place in these units. A week later the number of hunger strikers reported by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) had peaked at 6,600. These men are joined in hunger and solidarity by hundreds of other men and women on the outside and in other prisons across the country. The unified action is centered around five core demands:

1. End Group Punishment and Administrative Abuse

2. Abolish the Debriefing Policy, and Modify Active/Inactive Gang Status Criteria

3. Comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 Recommendations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary Confinement

4. Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food

5. Expand and Provide Constructive Programming and Privileges for Indefinite SHU Status Inmates