Saturday, August 27, 2011

Prison Hungerstrike Update

Hungerstrike News
August 27, 2011 No. 15
 

Locked Up and Left Behind: New York's Prisoners and Hurricane Irene

While not directly related to the recent hunger strike in California prisons, due to the compelling and potentially tragic nature of what could soon happen to prisoners at Rikers' Island in New York City, we are including the following text by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway of Solitary Watch. Email Mayor Bloomberg to protest his decision not to evacuate Rikers Island. http://www.nyc.gov/portal/ site/nycgov/menuitem.bd08e e7c7c1ffec87c4b36d501c789a 0/index.jsp?doc_name=http% 3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fmail%2Fhtml%2Fmayor.html This decision cannot be allopwed to stand.
 
“We are not evacuating Rikers Island,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a news conference this afternoon. Bloomberg annouced a host  of extreme measures being taken by New York City in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, including a shutdown of the public transit system and the unprecedented mandatory evacuation of some 250,000 people from low-lying areas. But in response to a reporter’s question, the mayor stated in no uncertain terms (and with more than a hint of annoyance) that one group of New Yorkers on vulnerable ground will be staying put.
 
New York City is surrounded by small islands and barrier beaches, and a glance at the city’s evacuation map reveals all of them to be in Zone A (already under a mandatory evacuation order) or Zone B–all, that is, save one. Rikers Island, which lies in the waters between Queens and the Bronx, is not highlighted at all, meaning it is not to be evacuated under any circumstances.
 
According to the New York City Department of Corrections’ own website, more than three-quarters of Rikers Island’s 400 acres are built on landfill–which is generally thought to be more vulnerable to natural disasters. Its ten jails have a capacity of close to 17,000 inmates, and normally house at least 12,000, including juveniles and large numbers of prisoners with mental illness–not to mention pre-trial detainees who have yet to be convicted of any crime.
We were not able to reach anyone at the NYC DOC for comment–but the New York Times‘s City Room blog reported: “According to the city’s Department of Correction, no hypothetical evacuation plan for the roughly 12,000 inmates that the facility may house on a given day even exists. Contingencies do exist for smaller-scale relocations from one facility to another.”
 
For a warning of what can happen to prisoners in a hurricane we need only look back at Katrina, and the horrific conditions endured by inmates at Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans. According to a report produced by the ACLU:
[A] culture of neglect was evident in the days before Katrina, when the sheriff declared that the prisoners would remain “where they belong,” despite the mayor’s decision to declare the city’s first-ever mandatory evacuation. OPP even accepted prisoners, including juveniles as young as 10, from other facilities to ride out the storm.
As floodwaters rose in the OPP buildings, power was lost, and entire buildings were plunged into darkness. Deputies left their posts wholesale, leaving behind prisoners in locked cells, some standing in sewage-tainted water up to their chests …
Prisoners went days without food, water and ventilation, and deputies admit that they received no emergency training and were entirely unaware of any evacuation plan. Even some prison guards were left locked in at their posts to fend for themselves, unable to provide assistance to prisoners in need.
 

Historic California Assembly Hearing on Solitary Confinement

 
Image by Pete Collins, imprisoned at Bath Prison, Ontario, Canada
 
 
 
by Sal Rodriguez
 
 
 
In response to the statewide prison hunger strike in July, the Public Safety Committee of the California State Assembly, chaired by State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, met on Tuesday to discuss the conditions in California’s Secure Housing Units.
 
The hearing began at approximately 1:30 PM.
Assemblyman Ammiano  opened his remarks saying, “Recent events brought these units to the forefront. We want to ensure that these units are administrated in such a manner to maximize the security of the inmates in the units, general population inmates, prison staff and the public generally.”
 
Glenda Rojas, a family member of a Pelican Bay inmate, spoke about her cousin’s experience. “The system of validation is wildly out of control,” she said. She discussed how false accusations resulted in her cousin being placed into the SHU for ten months. She talked about the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation’s bureaucratic delays, intimidation, and generally making it difficult to challenge the validation.
 
Afterwards, Earl Fears a former Corcoran SHU inmate, spoke out against the SHU. “Things that I did going to prison caused me to one time going to the SHU program…when I was in the SHU program..I felt that ‘this right here has got to be crazy.’  I  did 18 years in and out of prison but a SHU program was the bottom of the pits…What I witnessed in this short time I feel that…when you hear a cry, a man cry, a gangster cry, a killer cry, a con and an ex-con cry, there’s got to be a reason. I feel that those who started the hunger strike–they had to be willing to get their voice out for someone to hear it for someone to be willing to lay down and die just for someone to hear the situation what goes on in the SHU program they must be serious. Just small thing in the SHU program just causes people to yell or beat against the walls…”
 
He also condemned the practice of withholding shower and exercise privileges as punishment against inmates already in a psychologically stressful situation. He talked about how the pain of solitary  confinement and not having someone to talk to leads to emotional anguish and the damage that can cause in the long-term.
 
“I know you said there’s regulations…and that it’s not everyday prisoners that are sent to the SHU program but they still are human. And someone needs to look into it.”
 
William McGarvey, a reverend and representative of Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture, testified on the spiritual perspective and gave a history of solitary confinement and it’s roots in Quaker efforts to reform prisoners.
 
“Prisoners suffer and our communities suffer when prisoners…return to our communities…psychologically broken.”
 
McGarvey raised the placement into solitary of Native Americans and Rastafarians for refusing to cut their hair or remove dreadlocks, respectively. He also spoke about Islamophobia and how it has contributed to a ballooning solitary population in federal prisons: “60-75% in CMU’s (Communication Management Units) are Muslim.”
 
“[Solitary confinement results in] the destruction of the human spirit of the human spirit,” McGarvey said.
At 2:05, Charles Carbone, a San Francisco prisoner rights lawyer with extensive experience representing gang members, stated that SHU’s undermine both prison and community safety.
 
Carbone blasted the bureaucracy of the CDCR and in particular those tasked with reviewing the legitimacy of gang validation: “Their record of overturning those gang validation packets is next to nil.”
 
Carbone criticized the validation process–including the double counting of incidents on the “three point” system to validate inmates, and the use of trivial evidence to validate someone, citing a case in possessing the book “The Art of War” served as grounds for validation.
 
He also cited $56,000 per inmate  in costs that SHU units incur.
 
At 2:15, Craig Haney, a professor of psychology and a nationally recognized expert on solitary confinement, made several points. Officials should have known since the 1980s that a prison like Pelican Bay will “expose inmates to psychologically dangerous conditions of confinement.”
 
Haney quoted the opinion of Judge Henderson in the Madrid v. Gomez case: that Pelican Bay State Prison “may press the outer borders of what most humans can psychologically tolerate.”
 
Haney pointed out that the only human contact of inmates in solitary is the “incidental brushing up against prison guards” as they handcuff them for transport to cages for exercise.
 
“There is now clear and convincing evidence,” according to Haney, that the SHU model of dealing with gangs doesn’t work and may even make things worse. He cited increases in gang violence over the past few decades as indicating the ineffectiveness of SHU use in curbing such violence.
 
Laura Magnani of the American Friends and Service Committee then spoke. She began by quoting the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, and noted that SHU’s cost at least “twice as much” as general population.
 
She then read a portion of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Article 1 Section 1:
“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person…”
In the case of women, Magnani stated that segregation can be an “extreme form of oppression and trauma” particularly for women who have a prior history of abuse at the hands of men. The lack of privacy for women in institutions guarded by largely male was also condemned by Magnani.
 
Magnani pointed to violent cell extractions, hogtying and contraband searches as “not only violate international treaties but our own sense of human decencies.”
 
She went on to make various recommendations, including restoring the right of reporters to enter and interview prisoners, saying, “Free press is one of the most important safe guard against abuses.”
 
She also called for the implementation of limits a person can be held in isolation and encouraged constant review of whether confinement necessary.
 
At 2:30, Dorsey Nunn of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children/All of Us or None spoke.
 
He recounted a meeting with an inmate at Pelican Bay who has been in PBSB since 1988, who knew about Abu Graib abuses and questioned the difference between the torture of Abu Graib and the outrage it inspired versus the conditions of solitary confinement in United States prisons.
 
The inmate, an African American who, in 20 years, had only legally spoken to one other African American, had been thrown into disciplinary segregation for attempting to speak to another.
 
Nunn questioned the deprivation of human contact and the ability of someone to do something as simple as speak to someone of the same race.
 
He also challenged the validation system, notably the confidential nature of debriefings and the inability of those accused of being gang members to confront their accusers.
 
Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist and an authority on the mental health effects of solitary,  was next. “The prisoners demands are very reasonable. They’re actually common sense.” He said the CDCR is “absolutely not” in compliance with the report of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, despite claims to the contrary.  “For prisoners needs to be blatantly ignored—the process has to be secret. And otherwise citizens would be upset.”
 
He echoed calls for lifting of the media bans.
“While the Department of Corrrections will say they are implementing changes…they actually haven’t done a thing since 2007.”
 
Remarking on the claims that the CDCR “need these supermax” facilities, he noted the  increase in violence within the prison system. He went on to speak about Mississippi and its dramatic reduction in segregation units and the accompanies decreases in incidents.
 
“There needs to be conduct based assignment” in California prisons, “what we have is not conduct that gets you in there, but the assumption that you’re a gang member.”
 
“In any state prison system…over half of the actual successful suicides in the entire prison system involve the 2-6% that are in segregation…Suicide and acting out have their roots in the despair of segregation,” Kupers said.
 
“There need to be alternatives to debriefing,” Kupers stated, pointing to the high recidivism rates that result from inmates being released straight from solitary without any time spent in the general prison population.
 
At 2:52, CDCR officials arrived to speak and answer questions.
 
Scott Kernan, Undersecretary of Operations, represented the CDCR. He immediately defended the practice of segregation on the grounds that it allows CDCR to control violent gang members and that segregation is “critical” to allow other inmates to program successfully and get out.
 
He noted that 3,000 out of 165,000 California inmates were in solitary.
 
He defended segregation by noting that various courts have upheld the practice.
 
“What might be a human rights violation is the violence that gangs perpetuation—not segregation,” he said.
 
“The department agrees that we can and should make some changes to SHU policies,” he said, and stated that the CDCR and “within months not years” will make changes, primarily through the implementation of “behavior based systems.” Such a system would entail a step-down process and will encourage inmates to “earn their way out of the system.”
 
In response to a question by Ammiano regarding the slow speed of reform in CDCR policies, Kernan replied, “We’re going through the worst economic situation since the Great Depression”
 
“Are you making changes?” asked Ammiano.
 
“The inmates have a choice to come out of the system,” Kernan said and indicated that of those inmates who have been validated “99% of them will say you got it right. He also stated that “we will continue to have a debriefing process” and that keeping it “will not dissuade someone from getting out of the gang” as “they will be able by their own behavior work their way out of the SHU.”
 
In response to the confidentiality of the debriefing process, Kernan answered that “we will continue to use confidential informants.”
Regarding a question as to whether or not anonymous accusers will be given an opportunity to face their accusers, Kernan replied, “No Sir” and went on to say “we are going to make it as fair as we possibly can.”
Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner commented in response to Kernan’s remarks that “the data that we heard indicates that once a prisoner is in the SHU at Pelican Bay it is very infrequent for them to be moved out. I see a bit of a disconnect between your answer…”
 
Kernan repeatedly indicated that the average stay in the SHU is 6.8 years and that “what I said was that offenders in the SHU with mountains of documentation of their violations inmates involving themselves in terrible assaults on inmates and staff…”
 
Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell commented: “I was cautiously optimistic about hearing [what you had to say]…I have to say I am concerned, quite frankly I’m disappointed” by Kernan’s defense of the status quo.
 
In response, Kernan stressed the need for current standards in order to curb gang violence.
 
Mitchell followed up and asked if there were and checks and balances when it came to the validation process. Kernan indicated that all decisions are made within the CDCR with cooperation between prison officials and CDCR administrators, to which Mitchell responded that CDCR has more say than the judiciary.
 
Public Comment began at 3:34. A sample of those who spoke and what was said:
Julie Tackett spoke and told the story of Bryan. You can read more of Bryan’s story here.
James Harris of the Socialist Workers Party spoke out calling for the abolition of the SHU.
Gail Brown with Life Support Alliance stressed the need for stakeholders to be included in the process of reform.
 
“Hariett”, a sister-in-law of an inmate in solitary for 25 years, asked how her 65 year old brother-in-law could possibly be a gang member anymore after 25 years in solitary.
 
Manuel LaFontane a former prisoner stated that the CDCR’s comments before the hearing were “a smokescreen to get away with inhumanity.” He recounted an experience in prison in which a prison guard told him “We are the gang.” He left with the question: “Does the fact that we can label someone mean we can torture them?”
 
Amber, sister of PBSP inmate, asserted that inmates were willing to lose their lives for what they felt was right.
 
Carol Travis, of Walnut Creek, who had the opportunity to interview multiple inmates at Pelican Bay described the emotional experience as “profound and surprising.”
 
Dolores Canales, mother of a son in the SHU for 10 years: “They do have dignity and they want to be heard.”
 
Some speakers described reasons for their loved ones being placed in solitary. Among them: exercising with validated gang member, and for having a book by George Jackson. Many spoke to the ease of being placed in the gang database.
 
A representative of the California Network of Mental Health Clients stated that “the conditions in the SHU’s are so deleterious to mental and physical health that many more people experience mental health issues in the SHU and in the community when and if they improve” and declared support for reform.
A Ventura Youth Facility parole officer pointed to the commonality of problems in the juvenile prison system and said to the assembly-members, “If you’re not compelled by the stories here I don’t know what will.”
 
A representative of the Critical Resistance spoke, saying “Long term broad based action necessary. We the people and residents of California… are making it clear that we want changes to the prison system….”
 
A story was told of an inmate not allowed to donate his kidney because he was in the SHU—resulting in the intended recipient dying. The inmate had been sent to solitary due to possessing a book that suggested gang ties.
A member of the San Quentin Six spoke on behalf of 66-year old Hugo Pinell who has been in solitary for 40 years despite not having a disciplinary write up for over 30 years.
 
Public comment went on until 4:48 and the hearing thereafter adjourned.
 
Ammiano has said that there will be future hearings on the issue.
 
The full hearing can be viewed on video on the California Channel.
 



 
Recent Media Coverage
 
 


Needless to say, a link to an article does not imply endorsement.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 



 

 
Upcoming Events

 
 
In the US:

California
San Diego
Saturday August 27th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m: End The Torture in Pelican Bay SHU Action. NBC Building 225 Broadway, San Diego, CA
 
 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I Kissed a Drunk Girl, Too !

I had so much fuckin' fun last night !
Took my friend w/bene's out for her b-day dinner, and partying -
got a lot more than just drunk - hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha -
anyway, wish you were here, and all that...
And I love this SC song.
Go out and party - life's too short.
Ciao

Something Corporate - Drunk Girl


Monday, August 22, 2011

Been Sorta a Bad Day - But Not TOO bad...

Found these guys the other day sitting drinking microbrews at the Frog & Ferkin on Univ. next to the UofA. Not bad at all, really. Their other stuff is good, too.
Hope you like 'em - just thought I'd pass 'em along.
Try 'Watch the Sky', and especially 'Drunk Girl' - pretty fuckin' funny - I think they're my next band to replace Weezer. Yeah - I know that makes no sense - but what the hell - ya know what i mean anyway.
Ciao.

Something Corporate - Bad Day


Friday, August 19, 2011

Does Anyone Notice How Fascist Society is These Days ?

Don't get me wrong - i have no complaints at all about my personal life (things have been going VERY well lately - sorry about the lack of site-visiting and posting ! I've just been so damned busy !), but things seem really fascist.
The streets swarm with cops; rules and laws proliferate like summer flies, but things seem increasingly out of control, and heading towards disaster.
Is it just me ? Am i just being paranoid ?
I dunno. Sure FEELS like things are falling apart...
That ol' Floyd song - Waiting for the Worms, sums it up pretty well.
Pretty fuckin' scary out there.
I'll be posting again soon - but meanwhile - comments, anyone ?
Tell me I'm not nuts, OK ?
Ciao.









Pink Floyd - Waiting for the Worms


Friday, August 12, 2011

Chasin' That Dollar...

Hi Folks !
Sorry been gone so long - been chasin' that almighty dollar !
Anyway - I'm in my new place - and really glad about it (that air-con is a huge difference, not to mention all the space I have now).
Been busy as hell, betweenthe move, workin' on the Nature of Religion, Land of a Thousand Smiles, plus stuff I'm doing for Rashid Johnson, and other of the boys sittin' in various holes around the country.
But things are starting to settle down a little - so i should be back to my daily postings after this weekend.
I'll catch up on all your blogs in the next few days - let me know how you're all doin', OK ?
Talk to you soon.
Ciao !


Pink Floyd - Money


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Hungerstrike Update

Hungerstrike News
August 2, 2011 No. 11
 

Support and Resistance Expand

 
drawing by
Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, who has been held in segregation in the Virginia prison system since 1994. To see more of Rashid's artwork and writings, see www.rashidmod.com
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 1, Prisoner Hungerstrike Solidarity:
 
Today supporters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and New York are holding rallies and speak-outs as part of a national day in support of the hunger strike, asking for all five core demands to be met, and for no retaliation against any and all prisoners who participated in the strike.
 
Supporters are also continuing to show support by participating in rolling fasts, writing letters to legislators, and words of encouragement and support to prisoners. Last week, more than 150 religious communities of Roman Catholic nuns mailed in letters of support of the prisoners’ requests to the governor of CA. The communities ranges from the Congregation of St. Joseph to the Loretto Sisters to the Sisters of Mercy. Each religious community represents from 100-18,000 nuns nationally and internationally. These representatives say: “We are with each of the prisoners and their supporters and loved ones in this struggle and extend our prayers of love, peace and support.”
 
Tactics of extreme isolation, social deprivation and torturous conditions are used throughout the US. [At least 60 super-maximum security prisons are operated in 44 states of the US]. People locked up throughout all prisons continuously resist repression and torture everyday, often working together in forms of both spontaneous and well-organized massive resistance.
 
Days within the Hunger Strike in CA ending, the Department of Corrections in Indiana put all the state prisons on lock-down in response to a stabbing no doubt instigated by guards. Prisoners in Indiana’s SHU joined together in resistance once the prison administration cut off all electricity and water in the prisons.
 
 
As we approach the 40th Anniversary of the Attica Rebellion this September, we’re reminded of the decades before us of prisoners working together across prison-manufactured racial divisions, resisting brutal conditions of isolation, torture and imprisonment. We’re reminded of the long and tireless fight for humanity to be recognized. The hunger strike that started at Pelican Bay and swept across CA’s prisons system has rejuvenated years and years of anti-prison and human rights’ work throughout the US and internationally, galvanizing support and collaboration inside and outside prison walls.



 

Indiana:  Solidarity with Wabash Valley SHU Protests!

Call-in today, Tuesday, August 2nd.  Wabash Valley administration can be reached at (812) 398-5050.   The Indiana Department of Corrections commissioner can be reached at (317) 232-5711On the morning of 7/16, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood was stabbed by other prisoners.  The attack took place at Pendleton Correctional Facility in the Maximum Security area of the prison.  The administration used the stabbing as a justification for putting every prison in the state on lockdown and conducting system-wide searches, raids, and beatings.  Since the lockdown began, inmates at the Secure Housing Unit at Wabash Valley had been denied access to water for bathing, sanitation, and cleaning their cells.

In response, a protest took place at the SHU last week.  Inmates initiated a response to the administration's refusal of basic sanitation needs. The inmates flooded the range and have begun a campaign of noise disturbance.  In response, the guards cut off all water and electricity to the SHU...

Inmates threw a t-shirt over the security camera on the range and bombarded the guard pod with feces and piss thrown from their cells: “If we have to live in filth, so do you.”  Electricity and water were turned back on at 4 am, after many hours without either. Their demands for sanitation and clean water were finally addressed later that evening.

As a condition of coming off this brutal lockdown, the prisoncrats have instituted an intervention by the Internal Affairs Security Threat Group officers to subject the entire prison to interrogations and forced debriefing, including photographing of tattoos and forced declarations of organizational allegiances. The prison officials have said that they won't come off lockdown until everyone has been subjected to these measures.

Struggles in prison can't sustain themselves if, on the outside, they only encounter the deadening silence of social submission.  By remaining passive on the outside, we give the prison system more room to do whatever it wants to the prisoners in struggle.  The inmates at Wabash Valley are protesting to end the system-wide lockdown, to defend their access to basic needs and their dignity.  Without solidarity, this protest could be drowned in beatings and blood, so let's break the social silence that allows the Secure Housing (isolation) Units and prison to play their normal, murderous role.  Indeed, raids against the rebellious blocks are ongoing right now.

Close the Secure Housing Units and isolation regimes – Isolation is always torture!

Solidarity with the hunger strikers in California prisons and the protests spreading in the Indiana prison system!

Down with prison-society!



In support of the prisoners' struggle, an Anarchist Solidarity Initiative in Bloomington is making the following call:

For active and subversive solidarity with the prisoners, to be practiced by whoever feels affinity with their struggles.

For specific call-in days on Monday, August 1 and Tuesday, August 2nd. Wabash Valley administration can be reached at (812) 398-5050.   The Indiana Department of Corrections commissioner can be reached at (317) 232-5711

  • We demand, in solidarity with the prisoners:
  • A restoration of access to water and sanitation.
  • An end to the system-wide lockdown and brutal searches.
  • An end to forced debriefing and interrogation.
  • That no prisoner faces repercussions for their participation in protests.

The Department of Corrections is constantly planning to expand the prison system.  Last year, it contracted with GEO Group to build a new private prison.
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 



 
Recent Media Coverage
 
 


Needless to say, a link to an article does not imply endorsement.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 

 



 

 
Upcoming Events
(next week)
 
International:
 
Rolling Fast in solidarity with California prisoners! To make a powerful statement of solidarity, we are calling for a 23-day rolling fast, August 1-23, to parallel the 20-day fast the prisoners took in July. Can you fast for one or two days in August to show your solidarity with these brave prisoners and send the message to California prison officials that the world is watching? Contact Alice Leibowitz, aliceactivist@gmail.com, to commit to a date.
 
 
 
In the US:

California
 
Oakland
August 4: WEEKLY VIGIL IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE HUNGER STRIKERS. Come out and stand in solidarity with prisoners hunger striking at Pelican Bay State Prison and other prisons across California. We will meet from 5-7pm in front of the Alameda County Courthouse–1225 Fallon St., near Lake Merritt bart station and downtown Oakland.
 
 
Hawaii
Honolulu
Friday, August 5th 6:30-8:30 pm: Demonstration to Support the Demands of the Hunger Strikers! Cornor of Bethel & Hotel. March begins at 8pm. The purpose is to disseminate the demands to the thousands of people who attend the monthly Art Walk, and to build support in Hawai`i for the demands of the hunger strikers.  Other events are being planned.
 
 
Illinois
Chicago
August 4 at 7pm: California Prison Hunger Strike & Torture in U.S. Prisons Forum. Grace Place, 637 S Dearborn Street, Chicago.
 
 
New York
New York City
Thursday, August 4th 6:30-8 pm: Solidarity Picket at Harlem State Office Building (corner 125th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., Harlem). To build support for the five demands established by the Pelican Bay strikers, and raise awareness of the conditions shared by people incarcerated in New York State. For information about the action, please contact: nyc@nodeathpenalty.org
 
 
In Canada
Montreal
August 5, 12–1.30 pm: Picket at the American Consulate. 1155, rue Saint-Alexandre, corner Rene Levesque, metro Place des Arts. For more info, contact: montrealcontreprisons@gmail.com
 
 
 
If you are organizing an event in your area, let us know!
 
 
Demonstration in front of the California Tourist Office in London, England. The protest in solidarity with the California hunger-strikers was organized by the Brighton Anarchist Black Cross, and was joined by comrades from the Irish Republican Prisoners Support Group.
 
 
 
If you'd like photos of your actions to appear in Hungerstrike News, just send us an email...


 
Hungerstrike News can be reached at hstrikenews@yahoo.ca


Build for Legislative Hearing on Torture & the SHU at Pelican Bay, August 23!

Committee Chair Tom Ammiano has scheduled this hearing at the request of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition.  The legislative committee will hear testimony from speakers called by both sides.  There will also be a comment period when family members and others can speak.  The Prisoner Hungerstrike Solidarity Coalition urges everyone concerned about the torturous conditions in California’s prisons to attend this hearing.  People will be coordinating transportation from all over California. We are still in the planning stages, but know already that we want a huge turn-out.  Perhaps there will also be a rally, march, etc.  More information coming soon! Please stay tuned. For more information, email prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com or call: 510. 444.0484.

Throughout the month of July, 2011, thousands of prisoners across California participated in a hunger strike against torturous conditions at Pelican Bay State Prison's Security Housing Unit.
 
Hungerstrike News has documented their struggle and the actions of those who stood in solidarity with them, and will continue to support the struggle for the Five Demands.
MAKE CALLS AND
WRITE LETTERS OF PROTEST TO:

Secretary Matthew Cate
CDCR
1515 S Street
Sacramento
95814
TEL: (916) 323-6001
 
Governor Jerry Brown
State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
 
CDCR Public Affairs Office: (916)445-4950
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