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NEWS & LETTERS, August-September 2006Indiana prisoners begin hunger strikePrisoners at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Indiana are staging a hunger strike to protest harsh conditions of starvation and constitutional rights violations involving cruel and unusual punishment. The Secured Housing Unit (SHU) at Carlisle is a hotbed of racist attitudes, discrimination, constitutional violations, food tampering by staff, mail tampering by the staff, and a host of other attacks against prisoners. Since a contracted agreement was made with the private food provider ARAMARK in July 2005, there has been no improvement in food portions for prisoners in population nor for those who are housed in administrative segregation in the unit that is approved to purchase food off commissary. This means we must starve ourselves simply because we are on long-term segregation. For this reason, and the conditions we've been forced to endure, we are organizing a hunger strike. ¥ We want to be approved to order food from commissary, at least a $25 order once a week or every two weeks. ¥ We want an end to officers tampering with our mailbags and giving other prisoners our mail. ¥ We want to be allowed to take pictures to send to our families, just as prisoners are allowed to do on administrative segregation. ¥ We want an immediate end put to officers working the SHU from putting feces in our food trays. ¥ We want the facility to reincorporate a program for group recreation on the SHU. ¥ We want an end to all verbal disrespect from SHU officers waged against prisoners and slandering prisoners' characters. ¥ We would like to be afforded an opportunity to address our issues with the IDOC Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner personally, one on one, so that we be professionally addressed and not just brushed off. ¥ We demand to be treated like human beings and not like wild animals nor sub-humans. We on strike would appreciate it very much if you would call in your concerns and support for the hunger strike to the Department of Corrections officers. Robert E. Hemphill, # 855957 B-1009 Send protest messages to: J. Davis Donahue, Commissioner, IDOC South Edward B. Motley, Deputy Commissioner, IDOC South |
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