{"id":1243,"date":"2011-07-13T04:30:43","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T09:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/?p=1243"},"modified":"2013-02-03T17:13:46","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T23:13:46","slug":"california-prisoner-hunger-strike-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/?p=1243","title":{"rendered":"California: Prisoner hunger strike updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>from <a href=\"https:\/\/prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com\/\">Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition received an urgent update  from medical staff at Pelican Bay State Prison that the health of at  least 200 hunger strikers in the SHU is rapidly worsening. A source with  access to the current medical conditions who prefers to be unnamed  reported:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe prisoners are progressing rapidly to the organ damaging  consequences of dehydration. They are not drinking water and have  decompensated rapidly. A few have tried to sip water but are so sick  that they are vomiting it back up. Some are in renal failure and have  been unable to make urine for 3 days. Some are having measured blood  sugars in the 30 range, which can be fatal if not treated.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n<p>SHU prisoners at Pelican Bay have said they are willing to risk their  lives and will continue to strike until their demands are met. The CDCR  continues to refuse to negotiate.<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners across CA continue to refuse food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay SHU hunger strikers.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->This past weekend, families and friends sent encouragement and  support to their loved ones during weekend visits at prisons across the  state, witnessing the toll the hunger strike is taking on their bodies.  Families have said their loved ones are extremely pale, shaking and have  already lost 20-30 pounds. Some families of prisoners who have only  been drinking water for 12 days now witnessed their loved ones faint or  go into diabetic shock in visiting rooms over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>People locked up across the state have been telling their friends and  families about the tactics prison officials have been using to break  the strike.<\/p>\n<p>Many prisoners have said that medications are being denied to prisoners on hunger strike.<\/p>\n<p>Prisoners have reported that guards in at least Pelican Bay General  Population and Calipatria State Prison have been calling throughout  blocks and units: \u201cThe Hunger Strike is over! The 5 demands have been  met!\u201d which is not true. According to family members of prisoners at  Calipatria, participation at Calipatria was huge\u2013at least 1,500  prisoners throughout that prison alone joined the hunger strike\u2013 until  the guards spread rumors of the strike ending. Some prisoners at  Calipatria remain on hunger strike, however.<\/p>\n<p>While the CDCR released it\u2019s estimate of 6,600 prisoners  participating in the hunger strike during the 4th of July weekend and  declared the numbers dropping to over 2,100 in the following days, of  course the CDCR failed to mentioned how and why that happened. The  decline in numbers in no way demonstrates a lack of support or  dedication to this struggle from the prisoners, rather how eager the  CDCR is to make this issue go away quickly and quietly.<\/p>\n<p>Families and community organizations like Prison Moratorium Project  continue to rally support outside of striking prisons like Corcoran,  sharing information and trying to visit their loved ones as regularly as  possible.<a href=\"http:\/\/julie-tackett.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Families and community members are also supporting the strike outside Pelican Bay.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Support for this hunger strike is at a crucial point, where  we need to pressure the CDCR to negotiate with the prisoners  immediately. <a href=\"http:\/\/prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com\/take-action\/cdcr-and-california-elected-officials-contact-informaion\/\" target=\"_blank\">Call the CDCR and urge them<\/a> to negotiate NOW. Also <a href=\"http:\/\/prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com\/take-action\/cdcr-and-california-elected-officials-contact-informaion\/\" target=\"_blank\">call your legislators and urge them<\/a> to make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners in good faith. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com\/take-action\/cdcr-and-california-elected-officials-contact-informaion\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> for more info, including a sample script and phone numbers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>***The coalition also needs help getting updates and  information to prisoners throughout CA. If you know people who are  locked up in CA, please either send us their information or send them  updates of the strike, including how people are supporting outside. The  Hunger Strikers need our support, and need to know how much support is  growing for them outside prison. ***<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>***An emergency press conference will be held Wed July 13th  at 11 am outside the California State Building in San Francisco (Van  Ness &amp; McAllister)***<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-0706-hunger-strike-20110706,0,3504424.story\" target=\"_blank\">The CDCR\u2019s own figures<\/a> acknowledge <strong>6,600 prisoners<\/strong> participated in the hunger strike across <strong>13 prisons<\/strong> (out of a total 33) in California this past weekend. While the CDCR  claims the number of prisoners participating has dropped to 2,100 people  yesterday, we know this hunger strike is strong, and <strong>many prisoners are in it for the long haul<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Thousands<\/strong><\/em> of prisoners have come together  in solidarity with the prisoners at Pelican Bay SHU, while being locked  up in brutal conditions themselves. This massive resistance and support  is a testament to people\u2019s undying will and ability to build collective  power in the face of disappearance and death.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Now\u2019s the time to really make the prisoner\u2019s voices heard!!!<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com\/take-action\/cdcr-and-california-elected-officials-contact-informaion\/\" target=\"_blank\">Call the CDCR, Gov. Brown and your local representatives<\/a> and urge them to negotiate with the prisoners and honor their demands!<\/li>\n<li>Sign &amp; circulate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/petitions\/support-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-at-pelican-bay-state-prison\" target=\"_blank\">the online petition!<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Make sure to attend rallies and demonstrates in cities near you, and if there isn\u2019t one yet planned, <a href=\"http:\/\/prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com\/take-action\/call-for-action\/\" target=\"_blank\">get together<\/a> with your friends, networks, communities and make some noise for the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>from Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition received an urgent update from medical staff at Pelican Bay State Prison that the health of at least 200 hunger strikers in the SHU is rapidly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/?p=1243\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2532,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[882],"tags":[27,215,59],"class_list":["post-1243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates","tag-hunger-strike","tag-pelican-bay","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2532"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1243"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1245,"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions\/1245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waronsociety.noblogs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}