Starving for Change

At the core of the strike was a call for reform within Pelican Bay's Security Housing Units, otherwise known as ''The SHU.'' In the SHU, inmates are sentenced to long-term confinement in a soundproof cell for 23 hours a day. SHU inmates receive one hour of reprieve each day in a concrete exercise yard with 30-foot high walls. In addition to demanding compliance with the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons 2006 Recommendations, inmate demands also included an ''end to group punishment and administrative abuse'' and the termination of the debriefing policy which can put prisoners at risk for providing information about another inmate's gang status. Prisoners also seek an end to the system of holding back food as a disciplinary method and are pursuing additional privileges for certain SHU inmates.

While 6,600 inmates in 13 California prisons became involved in the hunger strike, which began on July 1st, the number of participants had dropped to somewhere between 160 and 400 by last Wednesday. Numbers could not be confirmed because some inmates were only refusing state-issued meals but eating in visitation rooms, while others were participating in the strike sporadically. According to prison officials, the strike came to an end after prisoners were made aware that a number of prisoner demands are already being addressed. According to Terry Thornton, CDCR deputy press secretary, prison overcrowding, dependence on lockdowns, and gang management policies are already areas that are being assessed by officials. A press release from the CDCR asserts that changes have already taken place, including ''providing cold-weather caps, wall calendars, and some educational opportunities for SHU inmates.''

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However, some remain skeptical, charging that CDCR officials banned all prisoner communications with prisoner rights groups and reporters and then neglected to provide factual information during the strike. ''The CDCR has demonstrated that they do not know how to tell the truth,'' President of California Prison Focus Ron Ahnen said. According to Ahnen, CDCR officials initially underreported the number of inmates involved in the hunger strike, leaving him to question whether officials will truly consider the issues that inmates are concerned about. ''What they did is make a bunch of promises about what they are going to look at. Now we just need to hold them to their word,'' said Ahnen.

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Prior to the conclusion of the strike, Thornton defended current gang security policies, saying security measures have been examined and amended through litigation over the years. However, Carol Strickman, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and a member of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity (PHSS) legal team points out that the past modification of security policies have not been enough. ''Some of these guys have been in the Security Housing Unit for 20 years or more and are suffering the severe effects of being locked in a 6 x 10 concrete cell for 23 ½ hours a day. What they are asking for are basic human rights.'' According to PHSS, a Bay area-based coalition, the demands put forth by the striking California prisoners are recognized as basic rights in ''Supermax'' prisons in other US states.