Ten days after Texas inmates across the state began a hunger strike to protest the state’s harsh solitary practices, dozens of men are still refusing to eat, and some are reported to be losing weight daily.
Texas inmates in solitary confinement are held in solitary confinement for at least 22 hours a day. When the level of the staff allows – which is rare – they leave their cells to take a shower or exercise alone in the open areas in the cages. Thousands of prisoners are held in such conditions, and they are usually isolated for years.
More than 500 Texas inmates had been in solitary confinement for more than a decade in November, according to prison officials.
Under department policy, inmates are placed in solitary confinement if they are in danger of escaping, have committed violent assaults or serious offenses in prison, or are confirmed members of dangerous prison gangs. For months, people in several Texas prisons have been urging prison officials and legislators to end the practice of placing and keeping inmates in solitary confinement because they are gang-related, even if they don’t have behavioral problems.
With no noticeable response to their proposal, they went on a hunger strike last week on Tuesday, the first day of the state legislature.
Brittany Robertson, an independent activist who coordinated with men in more than a dozen prisons before and during the hunger strike, said she estimates that hundreds of men began refusing to eat last week. On January 13, the first day the Texas Department of Criminal Justice officially recognized the strike since three days had passed, the prison system reported that 72 inmates were on hunger strike.
The number had dropped to 51 by Tuesday last week, according to TDCJ spokesperson Amanda Hernandez. On Thursday, she said 38 inmates were still refusing to eat.
