Why Do People in Prison Go on Hunger Strike?
Two weeks ago, women incarcerated at Estrella Jail in Phoenix, Arizona staged a hunger strike. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who runs the jail, told media that the women were striking over the all-vegetarian meals being served. His direct quote was actually: "They ought to shut up and eat what they have, they happen to be in jail and I'm the sheriff and I'm the chief chef I decide what they eat.” Spinning the women's protest as just a knee-jerk response to having to eat vegetarian food helps turn a serious hunger strike into a punchline.
But the women's issue is more than the lack of meat—they charge that the food served is spoiled and moldy and that the people in charge of their care (like the charming Sheriff Arpaio) don’t seem to care about their valid concerns.
On Thursday February 13th, the hunger striking women were joined by 90 people in the jail's male unit who refused dinner. That action drew media attention—the Arizona Republic published a short piece on the hunger strike, interviewing two of the men (but none of the women) involved. One man told the Republic that he had been motivated to participate in the hunger strike as an act of solidarity with the women: “If a woman does it, I’m gonna do it. That’s what men are supposed to do.”
People who want to change unjust policies have some effective tools at their disposal: social media, public meetings, the ability to take to the streets. But in jails and prisons, the tools of protest are severely limited. In an environment where the ability to organize and speak to both family and media is greatly limited, refusing to eat is one of the few things people can do to draw media attention to prison conditions and speak up for themselves in mainstream media. Prisoners have staged numerous hunger strikes in recent memory. Last year, hunger strikes in Guantanamo Bay and California's Pelican Bay Supermax made repeated headlines across the nation. This past January, people at Illinois's Menard State Prison launched a hunger strike to protest their open-ended placement in solitary confinement. Now four weeks into the strike, they have also declared a liquids strike.
Read more on http://bitchmagazine.org/post/why-wou...
Please note: neither Bitchmedia nor I are responsible for the typo in the FOX10 caption that accompanies the photo.
But the women's issue is more than the lack of meat—they charge that the food served is spoiled and moldy and that the people in charge of their care (like the charming Sheriff Arpaio) don’t seem to care about their valid concerns.
On Thursday February 13th, the hunger striking women were joined by 90 people in the jail's male unit who refused dinner. That action drew media attention—the Arizona Republic published a short piece on the hunger strike, interviewing two of the men (but none of the women) involved. One man told the Republic that he had been motivated to participate in the hunger strike as an act of solidarity with the women: “If a woman does it, I’m gonna do it. That’s what men are supposed to do.”
People who want to change unjust policies have some effective tools at their disposal: social media, public meetings, the ability to take to the streets. But in jails and prisons, the tools of protest are severely limited. In an environment where the ability to organize and speak to both family and media is greatly limited, refusing to eat is one of the few things people can do to draw media attention to prison conditions and speak up for themselves in mainstream media. Prisoners have staged numerous hunger strikes in recent memory. Last year, hunger strikes in Guantanamo Bay and California's Pelican Bay Supermax made repeated headlines across the nation. This past January, people at Illinois's Menard State Prison launched a hunger strike to protest their open-ended placement in solitary confinement. Now four weeks into the strike, they have also declared a liquids strike.
Read more on http://bitchmagazine.org/post/why-wou...
Please note: neither Bitchmedia nor I are responsible for the typo in the FOX10 caption that accompanies the photo.
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