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<font size=4><b>Prisoners in Corcoran Ad-Seg Continue Hunger Strike<br>
CDCR Lags On Gang Validation Revisions<br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity <br><br>
Oakland – Although media coverage of the event has been scarce, prisoners
in the Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) at Corcoran State Prison
continue a hunger strike that has lasted over a month. In a statement
released in late December, representatives of the strikers listed 11
demands that include access to educational and rehabilitative
programming, adequate and timely medical care, and timely hearings on
their cases and petitions. As of February 9, the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), disclosed that 30 men were still
striking and a representative in the office said that prisoners had been
intermittently striking for the last month. Unlike the California
prisoner hunger strikes of July and September, little attention has been
given to the ongoing strike at Corcoran.<br><br>
Family members and advocates fear strikers may be experiencing serious
medical issues and even death. A prisoner at Corcoran, who
remains unnamed due to fear of reprisal, stated in a letter received on
February 5th, “On or about February 2nd or 3rd, 2012, an inmate has
passed away due to not eating that has been going on over here in
Corcoran ASU. Inmates are passing out and having other medical problems
and it seems that this is not being taken seriously. There will be more
casualties if this isn’t addressed or brought to light.”<br><br>
While this death is unconfirmed, it raises concerns that the CDCR is
failing to deal with this hunger strike in an appropriate manner.
"The prisoners are making very reasonable and legitimate demands
regarding basic human rights," says Carol Strickman, a lawyer
working on behalf of some hunger strikers in California, "For those
of us on the outside, the slow pace of reform is frustrating. For
those people enduring barbarous conditions, the lack of meaningful
improvement is unbearable."<br><br>
The demands of the Corcoran strikers are somewhat different than those of
the strikes sparked in Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit
(SHU) this past summer and fall, which at one point included 12,000
prisoners in 13 prisons across California. Administrative Segregation
Units are often used as holding places for prisoners in route to SHU
facilities, or who are waiting release back into general population. Many
prisoners in the various ASUs in California have been validated as gang
members by CDCR and languish, sometimes for years, awaiting transfer to
facilities such as Pelican Bay, where some prisoners have spent more than
20 years in solitary confinement.<br><br>
Following the September hunger strike and significant pressure from the
public and legislators in Sacramento, the CDCR announced that it would
make changes to its gang validation procedure and would release a draft
for review by stakeholders sometime in January. “The CDCR is clearly
behind on their timeline. Meanwhile, prisoners continue to be validated
largely due to association and baseless allegations effectively dooming
them to indefinite SHU sentences without any means of challenging their
cases,” says Azadeh Zohrabi, of the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
coalition . The stakeholders’ review will reportedly involve the
California Correctional and Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), state
legislators and prison advocates. <br><br>
Lawyers, families, and advocates will continue to monitor the situation
at Corcoran. For updates and further information please visit
<a href="http://www.prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/">
www.prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com</a>. <br><br>
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