Statement from Pelican Bay Prisoners:
"We have to put our lives on the line to force CDCR to do what's right"
June 30, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The following statement was issued on June 20 by prisoners being held in isolation at Security Housing Unit (SHU) at the Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) in California. CDCR is the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. For background, see "Emergency Call! Join Us in Stopping Torture in U.S. Prisons!" at revcom.us.
The principal prisoner representatives from the PBSP SHU Short Corridor Collective Human Rights Movement does hereby present public notice that our nonviolent peaceful protest of our subjection to decades of indefinite state-sanctioned torture, via long term solitary confinement will resume on July 8, 2013, consisting of a hunger strike/work stoppage of indefinite duration until CDCR signs a legally binding agreement meeting our demands, the heart of which mandates an end to long-term solitary confinement (as well as additional major reforms). Our decision does not come lightly. For the past (2) years we've patiently kept an open dialogue with state officials, attempting to hold them to their promise to implement meaningful reforms, responsive to our demands. For the past seven months we have repeatedly pointed out CDCR's failure to honor their word—and we have explained in detail the ways in which they've acted in bad faith and what they need to do to avoid the resumption of our protest action.
On June 19, 2013, we participated in a mediation session ordered by the Judge in our class action lawsuit, which unfortunately did not result in CDCR officials agreeing to settle the case on acceptable terms. While the mediation process will likely continue, it is clear to us that we must be prepared to renew our political non-violent protest on July 8 to stop torture in the SHUs and Ad-Segs [Administrative Segregation ] of CDCR.
Thus we are presently out of alternative options for achieving the long overdue reform to this system and, specifically, an end to state-sanctioned torture, and now we have to put our lives on the line via indefinite hunger strike to force CDCR to do what's right.
We are certain that we will prevail.... the only questions being: How many will die starvation-related deaths before state officials sign the agreement?
The world is watching!
Onward in Struggle and Solidarity.
Todd Ashker
Arturo Castellanos
Ronald Dewberry, aka Sitawa
Antonio Guillen
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