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Take Two

The history of prison hunger strikes in California

By Take Two Staff
Published Jul 29, 2013
Demonstrators hold up a sign during a rally in front of the State Building in San Francisco, Friday, July 1, 2011 to support prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison. Inmates in an isolation unit at Pelican Bay State Prison are on a hunger strike to protest conditions that they describe as inhumane. Advocates say several dozen inmates in the Security Housing Unit declined to eat their morning meal on Friday. The unit holds about a third of the 3,100 inmates at the Northern California prison. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Demonstrators hold up a sign during a rally in front of the State Building in San Francisco, Friday, July 1, 2011 to support prisoners at Pelican Bay State Prison. Inmates in an isolation unit at Pelican Bay State Prison are on a hunger strike to protest conditions that they describe as inhumane.
(
Paul Sakuma/AP
)

Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.

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The history of prison hunger strikes in California

More than 600 inmates are protesting solitary confinement through a mass hunger strike that began July 8th. But it's not the first time California prisoners have refused food to seek concessions from prison officials.

With more on the history of prison hunger strikes in California and beyond is Professor Keramet Reiter, who solitary confinement teaches criminology at the University of California at Irvine.