Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Prisoners Start Hunger Strike & Communicate Grave Concern for Medical Care
July 1st, 2011: The hunger strike began today with strength and solidarity within the Pelican Bay SHU. The rate of participation exceeded the strike organizers’ expectations. In unit D1, the first unit for which we know the numbers, 43 out of 52 prisoners refused their food. The remaining 9 are older or ill prisoners, who the organizers advised not to participate.
The men on Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay are worried about the medical situation, particularly Dr. Sayre. The prisoners are “horrified at the inevitability that this man will be directly responsible for our care once we reach the depths of the strike.” Bryan* [the prisoner] was talking about questions the men have about the rally on the 9th in San Francisco and then says:
*Bryan is in the hunger strike for the duration, totally committed.
from: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
The men on Hunger Strike at Pelican Bay are worried about the medical situation, particularly Dr. Sayre. The prisoners are “horrified at the inevitability that this man will be directly responsible for our care once we reach the depths of the strike.” Bryan* [the prisoner] was talking about questions the men have about the rally on the 9th in San Francisco and then says:
They [the other hunger strikers] also really wanted me to press our concern regarding “Doctor” Michael C. Sayre, “M.D.”. We think it could be helpful for you [outside supporters] to look into the Dept. of Health Professional Licensing Services Medical Investigations Units, Confidential Investigative Report, prepared for the Medical Disciplinary Board, Case #92-11-0022MD. On 7-7-92 an inmate at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary sustained a fractured right ankle and Dr. Scott Hutson scheduled him for surgery. In short, Michael Sayre was the anesthesiologist at St. Mary Medical Center and ended up being directly responsible for the inmate’s death. According to hospital Quality Assurance reports (pg 83), mechanical ventilation of this patient did not occur because the machine was never turned on resulting in severe hypoxic cerebral damage. This story was reported on in the [Walla Walla] Union-Bulletin as well on Sun., Sept. 20, 1992. The victim was Leonard Stephens.
It would also be diligent to ask Coalition members if they have any information on Sayre’s involvement in the forced feeding of a mentally ill man here [at Pelican Bay] which drew a complaint and if they have a copy the declaration of Everett D. Allen M.D. (?) Believe me when I tell you that any person who cared even in the slightest about basic human decency would be shocked at two or three of these complaints but the totality of it all floors me that this man still works in health care.
We’re horrified at the inevitability that this man will be directly responsible for our care once we reach the depths of the strike. But I personally will not be deterred from my commitment to prove to this administration that I’ve taken my last meal under these conditions, as of the 1st, even if it means almost certain physical abuse and disregard of humane care at this man’s hands. All I can do is hope that your voice at that point is heard. It could really make the difference we’ve discussed. But I’m not fooling myself….this will be brutal. Soft handed or hard….
*Bryan is in the hunger strike for the duration, totally committed.
from: http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Pelican Bay Prisoners Go On Hunger Strike to Protest Grave Conditions: Lawyers, Advocates, Organizations Hold Press Conference, Voice Prisoner Demands
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—June 29, 2011
Press Contact: Isaac Ontiveros
Communications Director, Critical Resistance
Office: 510 444 0484
Cell: 510 517 6612
What: Press Conference
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011, 11:00am
Where: Elihu M. Harris State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland, CA
Oakland—Prisoners at the notorious Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, CA will initiate an indefinite hunger strike on July 1st, 2011 to protest condition in the prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU). Lawyers and advocates who have been in contact with the prisoners will hold a press conference Thusday June 30th at the Oakland Federal Building, at 11am to rally support for the strike and put pressure on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to respond to the prisoners’ demands. Prisoners have delivered their demands to Pelican Bay warden Greg Lewis, the CDCR, and to Governor Jerry Brown. Their demands include an end to long-term solitary confinement, collective punishment, and forced interrogation on gang affiliation. The prisoners have also stated that they are willing to give up their lives unless their demands are met.
"The prisoners inside the SHU at Pelican Bay know the risk that they are taking going on hunger strike,” says Manuel LaFontaine, of All of Us or None, an organization that supports former prisoners and part of a Bay Area-based Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition supporting Pelican Bay’s prisoners. La Fontaine continues, “The CDCR must recognize that the SHU produces conditions of grave violence, such that people lose their lives in there all the time." U.S. and international human rights organizations have condemned Security Housing Units as having cruel, inhumane, and torturous conditions. SHU prisoners are kept in windowless, 6 by 10 foot cells, 23½ hours a day, for years at a time. The CDCR operates four Security Housing Units in its system at Corcoran,California Correctional Institution, Valley State Prison for Women as well as Pelican Bay.
Recent work and hunger strikes in Georgia and Ohio prisons were successful in both winning some concessions and alerting the public to the conditions inside US prisons. "People who are in prison are already being punished. They are still human beings and should not have to lose their civil and human rights" says Karen Shain, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.
Pelican Bay’s hunger strike begins amidst the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling condemning California’s prison overcrowding and order the reduction of its population by at least 33,000 people. At the center of the overcrowding ruling were dozens of prisoner deaths a year due to the lack of basic medical and other healthcare. Thursday’s Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity press conference will touch off several events happening in cities across North America in the coming weeks.
Legal workers, advocates, and experts on the California prison system will be available for comment and interviews.
###
Press Contact: Isaac Ontiveros
Communications Director, Critical Resistance
Office: 510 444 0484
Cell: 510 517 6612
What: Press Conference
When: Thursday, June 30, 2011, 11:00am
Where: Elihu M. Harris State of California Office Building, 1515 Clay St., Oakland, CA
Oakland—Prisoners at the notorious Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, CA will initiate an indefinite hunger strike on July 1st, 2011 to protest condition in the prison’s Security Housing Unit (SHU). Lawyers and advocates who have been in contact with the prisoners will hold a press conference Thusday June 30th at the Oakland Federal Building, at 11am to rally support for the strike and put pressure on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to respond to the prisoners’ demands. Prisoners have delivered their demands to Pelican Bay warden Greg Lewis, the CDCR, and to Governor Jerry Brown. Their demands include an end to long-term solitary confinement, collective punishment, and forced interrogation on gang affiliation. The prisoners have also stated that they are willing to give up their lives unless their demands are met.
"The prisoners inside the SHU at Pelican Bay know the risk that they are taking going on hunger strike,” says Manuel LaFontaine, of All of Us or None, an organization that supports former prisoners and part of a Bay Area-based Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition supporting Pelican Bay’s prisoners. La Fontaine continues, “The CDCR must recognize that the SHU produces conditions of grave violence, such that people lose their lives in there all the time." U.S. and international human rights organizations have condemned Security Housing Units as having cruel, inhumane, and torturous conditions. SHU prisoners are kept in windowless, 6 by 10 foot cells, 23½ hours a day, for years at a time. The CDCR operates four Security Housing Units in its system at Corcoran,California Correctional Institution, Valley State Prison for Women as well as Pelican Bay.
Recent work and hunger strikes in Georgia and Ohio prisons were successful in both winning some concessions and alerting the public to the conditions inside US prisons. "People who are in prison are already being punished. They are still human beings and should not have to lose their civil and human rights" says Karen Shain, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.
Pelican Bay’s hunger strike begins amidst the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling condemning California’s prison overcrowding and order the reduction of its population by at least 33,000 people. At the center of the overcrowding ruling were dozens of prisoner deaths a year due to the lack of basic medical and other healthcare. Thursday’s Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity press conference will touch off several events happening in cities across North America in the coming weeks.
Legal workers, advocates, and experts on the California prison system will be available for comment and interviews.
###
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