Improve California Prison Conditions: Support the Inmate Hunger Strike
- von: Care2.com
- empfänger: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
California prisons have been trapping inmates in inhumane living conditions for decades. Now, the inmates have taken this issue into their own hands.
On July 1, inmates residing in the security housing unit (SHU) of California's Pelican Bay State Prison began a hunger strike. The strike has since spread to include 11 of California's prisons and 6,500 inmates.
Inmates in the SHU spend 22.5 hours a day in isolation, can receive no phone calls, and shower once every three days. This can go on for years at a time. This type of cruel and inhumane treatment is counterproductive to their rehabilitation.
The demands of the inmates are simple: warmer clothing, improved inmate education, and higher quality foods.
Support these inmates in their struggle and demand that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation improve living conditions in state prisons.
Conditions in California state prisons have become unacceptable and, in light of the recent inmate hunger strike, can no longer be ignored.
Inmates deserve humane treatment while incarcerated. To deprive them of nutritional meals, warm clothing, and to keep them isolated most of the day for years at a time is cruel and counterproductive to their rehabilitation.
The California prison system needs to be reformed, with particular attention to security housing units, to stop inhumane treatment of prisoners.
Provide a better environment for inmates and reform current prison practices.
