By Megan Hansen
Eureka Times Standard
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. — Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Monday they’re not sure if hunger strikes have started at the Pelican Bay and Calipatria state prisons.
The group Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity issued a statement Friday that said prisoners at both locations planned to start refusing state-issued meals Monday as a way to protest solitary confinement conditions. A statement released from the group on Monday said more than 100 people are striking at Calipatria.
Terry Thornton, deputy press secretary for CDCR, said it’s too soon to say whether hunger strikes at the prisons are under way.
“There are inmates at some prisons refusing breakfast,” Thornton said Monday. “We’ll know more in 72 hours.”
Thornton said there are certain practices in place to tell whether a hunger strike is happening. An inmate must state they’re refusing food and miss three consecutive meals, or those that don’t state outright that they’re striking must miss nine consecutive meals.
Lt. Christopher Acosta, spokesperson for Pelican Bay State Prison, said the strike has started and they’ll know more today about how many people are participating.
This is the second organized hunger strike at Pelican Bay this year. Strike leaders have said the CDCR didn’t follow through on promises made to end a three-week hunger strike involving 6,600 inmates in July — so they’re trying again.
According to Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, Calipatria prisoners prepared for the hunger strike by sending in medical requests for liquids while on strike. They claim prisoners were denied liquids during the July hunger strike.
Strikers allege they’ve been forced to stay in Calipatria’s administrative segregation units without any set time frame. Pelican Bay strikers have said the secure housing units, known as the SHU, are inhumane and dangerous.
Prison officials have said many of the prisoners in the maximum-security units are active gang members who need to be isolated to protect other inmates.
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