Texas Tribune / Martin de Nascimento
Thousands of prisoners are held in solitary confinement in Texas. In November, more than 500 prisoners had been in isolation for more than his decade.
It’s been over 3 days since Texas inmates statewide started a hunger strike Protesting indefinite solitary confinement, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed that at least 72 people are still starving.
An activist working with the men at the protests believes the number was closer to 120, with more than 300, she estimated, beginning to refuse food on Tuesday. medically evaluated and a doctor can be force-fed According to prison spokesperson Amanda Hernandez, the inmate’s condition deteriorated.
“Our protests span all races and religions to keep the peace and improve conditions for all within the TDCJ,” read the press release from the prisoners. three prisons.
thousands of prisoners are held in a cell in Texas. In November, more than 500 prisoners had been in isolation for more than his decade.
It is TDCJ policy that prisoners are placed in solitary confinement if they are at risk of escape, have committed violent assaults or serious crimes in prison, or have been identified as members of dangerous prison gangs. assigned. Hunger strikes target the latter.
A few months before the strike, Hungry Men Sent Proposals He called on prison officials and state legislators to challenge the Texas practice of putting prisoners in solitary confinement or confinement because they belonged to gangs, even if they had been well behaved in prison. asked to change. The proposal would move the prison system from “gang status” solitary confinement to “behavior-based”, providing clear guidelines and firm timelines for when and how people in solitary confinement will be released. I asked
the proposal is settlement agreement A federal lawsuit was filed in 2015 against California’s solitary confinement practices. After extensive 2 months hunger strike In 2013 and years of prisoner-led lawsuits, the state of California no longer agrees to put people in solitary confinement or indefinitely segregate based solely on gang status.
Prison gangs, often racially organized, are highly dangerous and cause much of the violence in prisons, according to Michele Ditch, director of the Prisons and Prison Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. increase. Still, she said the prisoners’ demands were reasonable, especially since solitary confinement for more than 15 days is considered torture. international human rights standards.
“We’re talking years, not days. It’s indefinite,” she said last week as prisoners prepared to strike.
So far, TDCJ shows no signs of it bending. Hernandez said the agency’s intelligence services traced the cause of the strike to orders from members of the Aryan Brotherhood in Texas, who are being held in federal prison.
“If members of known prison gangs in state custody don’t like their current conditions of confinement, they are free to renounce their gangs and we will give them general public custody,” Hernandez said in an email Friday. “However, we are not going to give them the freedom to recruit new members within our correctional facilities and continue their criminal enterprise.”
Robertson dismissed the TDCJ’s allegations, arguing that many, if not most, of the men who went on strike were members of the Mexican Mafia or other gangs. She does not take orders from members of the Aryan Brotherhood, she said.
“These men have lived together for years and have discovered that if they band together to wish something good for all of their members, they can all rehabilitate and move on.
Prisoners and Daichi also said that, as Hernandez noted, re-entry programs for confirmed gang members to abandon gangs and return to the general prison population could take years to begin. They also say that prisoners may have to incriminate themselves or tip off other gang members, alienating many.
According to a prison press release, prisoners plan to continue the strike throughout the holiday weekend unless prison officials meet with a committee of various gang members who want to enter into negotiations.
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a financial backer of The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, bipartisan news organization funded in part by donations from its members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial backers play no part in Tribune journalism.find the perfect here is a list of them.
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