Thousands of inmates at up to eight Californian prisons have been on hunger strike for over a week in protest at what they feel is unfair treatment at the hands of prison authorities.

Estimates suggest that there could be up to 12,000 inmates involved in the coordinated protest across the state, according to a prison advocacy group.

The main gripe for the prisoners focuses on the practice of keeping them in solitary confinement for too long, and the methods that are employed to get a prisoner to secure their release from this form of punishment.

The prisoners have made five demands to authorities, including a change to current prison policy where an inmate is forced to go through an interrogation process where they are forced to incriminate themselves and other inmates in order to secure their release from solitary confinement.

In addition, the prisoners want authorities to end group lockdowns and for those in solitary confinement to be fed better quality meals and access to clothing more suited to the winter.

“We are hoping that this widespread participation will push [prison authorities] to negotiate and honor the basic demands of the people locked behind those walls,” stated Isaac Ontiveros, a spokesman for Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity.

“You have people in there that have been in solitary confinement for 20 years. They just want to change their conditions,” he explained.

The Californian Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said last week that it was “responding to a hunger striker disturbance by thousands of inmates in several correctional facilities”.

Officials within the prison have confirmed they will punish inmates who are not eating and that the instigators of the strike will be placed in an “Administrative Segregation Unit”.

The strike, which is the second to have been organised this year, started on September 26th. The last strike in July lasted for several weeks.

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Categories: Government, Health Care, Police Brutality, Prisons, Racism, Statements, U.S. News, Workers Struggle