Texas prisoners continue hunger strike in protest against solitary confinement

Posted By TheNewsCommenter: From Theguardian.com: “Texas prisoners continue hunger strike in protest against solitary confinement”. Below is an excerpt from the article.

Inmates across the state have been refusing food since 10 January to protest being held in isolation in some cases for decades

Scores of Texas prisoners have entered the second week of a hunger strike in protest at being kept indefinitely in solitary confinement, a form of incarceration in the US that human rights groups have denounced as torture.

Inmates across the Texas prison system have been refusing food since 10 January in an organized outcry against being held in isolation in some cases for decades. Estimates of the numbers of prisoners involved differ. The Texas department of criminal justice (TDCJ) puts it at 72, but outside advocates liaising with the strikers say it is at least 138.

In Texas, solitary confinement is used as a means of control designed largely to prevent violence between prisoners. The idea is to segregate those involved in prison gangs, or “security threat groups” as they are called, which include the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood and the Mexican mafia.

Inmates are assessed for signs of gang membership such as tattoos and other indicators, and if they are labelled with a gang status are then placed alone in a cell indefinitely, regardless of any behavioral violations or wrongdoing. The indeterminate length of a solitary term in Texas has made the state a national leader in the use of this extreme form of lock-up over prolonged periods.

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