30,000 California Inmates Begin Hunger Strike
Jul 12, 2013
Posted in Equal Rights/Equity
By Post Staff
About 30,000 inmates in California began a hunger strike Monday in solidarity with prisoners being held in the Solitary Housing Units (SHU). Among their demands are ending group punishment and providing adequate and nutritious food.
University of California students, who are members of an organization called Human Rights of the Incarcerated, held a protest on Monday in support of the hunger strike.
Danny Murillo and Steven Czifra, students at UC and members of the organization, have both spent time in solitary confinement.
“The logic of solitary confinement and the idea that it would keep prisoners safe from violence has not worked,” Murillo said. “I don’t have a solution, but I know what has been going on right now has not been working.”
“The hunger strike will go on until the prison administration comes to the bargaining table and meets our reasonable demands, ” said Czifra. “We won’t stop until the CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) agrees to a legally binding document.”
