Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Thursday, September 5, marked Day 60 of California's mass prisoner hunger strike. It also marked the end of the strike.

The strike began on Monday, July 8, with 30,000 people across California's prison system refusing meals. Some vowed to refuse food until their demands were met or their bodies gave out.

On September 5, both the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, (CDCR) and prisoner advocates announced that the strike had ended.

"Our decision to suspend our third hunger strike in two years does not come lightly. This decision is especially difficult considering that most of our demands have not been met (despite nearly universal agreement that they are reasonable)," read a joint statement by Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, and Antonio Guillen, the four designated representatives of the hunger strikers.

Read my entire article at http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18649-california-prison-hunger-strike...

For previous pieces on the hunger strike, see (in reverse chrnological order):

• Gang Instigation Alleged in CA Prison Hunger Strike; Force-Feeding Possible, Truthout, August 21, 2013.
• With One Prisoner Dead, Will California Listen to the Hunger Strikers? , The Nation, August 2, 2013
• California Hunger Strikers Enter Third Week, Face Retaliation , Truthout, July 27, 2013.
• Tens of Thousands of California Prisoners Launch Mass Hunger Strike, The Nation, July 10, 2013.
• Pelican Bay: Two Years Later, Those Still Buried Alive Vowing Hunger Strike Till the End, Truthout, July 7, 2013.
• Pelican Bay One Year Later: Policy Remains Debrief or Die, June 30, 2012.
• California Prison Hunger Strike Ends, Conditions of Immense Torture Continue, October 17, 2011.