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Podcasts Take Two
CA prison inmates continue hunger strike over solitary confinement
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Jul 10, 2013
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CA prison inmates continue hunger strike over solitary confinement
A hunger strike by California prison inmates is now in its third day. Prison officials say as many as 30,000 inmates are refusing meals.
Inmate Jeremy Beasley in his cell at Pelican Bay State Prison. Beasley spent nearly 15 years in the special security unit.
Inmate Jeremy Beasley in his cell at Pelican Bay State Prison. Beasley spent nearly 15 years in the special security unit.
(
Singeli Agnew/CIR
)

A hunger strike by California prison inmates is now in its third day. Prison officials say as many as 30,000 inmates are refusing meals.

A hunger strike by California prison inmates is now in its third day. Prison officials say as many as 30,000 inmates are refusing meals. 

It's the latest protest over conditions in the system's so-called Special Housing Units, where inmates suspected of gang affiliation are held in solitary confinement, sometimes for years and even decades.

Shane Bauer is an investigative reporter who has done a lot of reporting on California prison's isolation units, and he knows something about solitary confinement.  He was held in an Iranian jail, charged with spying, for over two years, some of that in solitary.