Hungerstreik in Pelican Bay beendet

Clara 24.07.2011 10:26 Themen: Repression Soziale Kämpfe Weltweit
Am vergangenen Freitag wurde der Hungerstreik im kalifornischen Pelican Bay Prison nach einem kollektiven Beschluss der beteiligten Gefangenen beendet, nach dem die Knast Leitung in einigen Punkten Zugeständnisse gemacht hat (siehe dazu auch Presse Mitteilung in englisch weiter unten).
Am 1. Juli 2011 hatten mehrere Hundert Gefangene in dem berüchtigten Isolationshaft Gefängnis einen unbefristeten Hungerstreik begonnen, um gegen Kollektivbestrafungen, die aufgezwungenen Aussagen gegen Mitgefangene sowie für Gesundheitsversorgung, das Recht auf Kommunikation mit der Außenwelt sowie Fortbildungsmöglichkeiten zu kämpfen. Bereits nach wenigen Tagen schlossen sich Gefangene aus anderen kalifornischen Gefängnissen dem Hungerstreik an. Zeitweise streikten über 6000 Gefangene in 13 verschiedenen Knästen des Bundesstaates. In den vergangenen Tagen ist die Gesundheitssituation vieler Gefangener extrem eskaliert. Aufgrund der extremen Hitze und teilweise verweigerter medikamentöser Behandlung seitens der Anstaltsleitung sind einige chronisch kranke Gefangene auch nach Beendigung des Hungerstreiks noch immer in einer sehr ernsten Situation.

Erste Kommentare sprechen vorsichtig von einem Sieg. Zwar sind die Behörden nur auf eine der fünf Kernforderungen des Hungerstreiks (Fortbildung) eingegangen, aber die lebensfeindlichen Praxis der Isolationshaft sei weit über die USA hinaus deutlich geworden. Familienangehörige, Unterstützer_innen und auch Teile der Medien hätten sich gegen die Folter in Pelican Bay und anderen Staatsgefängenissen ausgesprochen. Aber es bleibt die Skepsis, ob sich die Leitung des Gefängnisses an die Vereinbarungen halten wird. Schließlich hatte sie bereits vor 10 Jahren in ähnlichen Forderungen nach einem längeren Hungerstreik nachgegeben, ohne später irgend etwas davon umzusetzen.

Angehörige der Gefangenen aus der Bay Area werden sich weiterhin treffen und rufen gemeinsam mit den Gefangenen dazu auf, die Behörden zu beobachten, um sicher zu stellen, dass die Verhandlungsergebnisse eingehalten werden. Am kommenden Montag findet eine Demonstration in Sacramento statt, um den kalifornischen Gouverneur Brown aufzufordern, die Folter ähnlichen Umstände in den Gefängnissen des Bundesstaates zu beenden.

Die hungerstreikenden Gefangenen danken allen Unterstützer_Innen von außerhalb für die wochenlange Solidarität und hoffen, dass die Kämpfe in den Isolationsknästen auch weiterhin in einer breiten Öffentlichkeit präsent bleiben.

Weitere Informationen:
 http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/



_______________________


Prisoners at Pelican Bay End Hunger Strike, Declare Victory
Lawyers and Mediators Share Messages from Hunger Strike Leaders

For Immediate Release - July 22, 2011

Press Contact: Molly Porzig

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
510-444-0484
650-380-4107 cell

What: Press Conference
Where: California State Building, 1515 Clay St, Oakland
When: 11am, July 22, 2011

Oakland - Lawyers, mediators and prisoner's family members will hold a press conference on July 22, 2011 at the California State Building in Oakland announcing that prisoners at Pelican Bay have ended a hunger strike that began on July 1st. The prisoners collectively decided to end their strike when presented with an offer by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) meeting at least one of their demands. "The prisoners have been offered cold weather caps, calendars and the possibility of some educational opportunities in the Secure Housing Unit (SHU)," says Carol Strickman, a lawyer with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children who spoke by phone with four of the hunger strike leaders today, "They understand this is a victory not just because of the concessions that were offered, but because the tremendous international outcry around the conditions at Pelican Bay has made it possible to move towards lasting changes for prisoners across California."

The strike, which lasted three weeks, received broad international support and prompted California lawmakers to initiate hearings on conditions in the SHU, including the practice of long-term solitary confinement. "While the strike might be over, conditions at Pelican Bay and around California remain deplorable," says Emily Harris, coordinator of Californians United for a Responsible Budget. "The culmination of this hunger strike must be viewed in light of the fact that the CDCR is in federal receivership because it provides substandard medical care to prisoners. This will be an ongoing struggle."

The Pelican Bay prisoner hunger strike has been one of the largest and longest strikes by prisoners in California history, with more than 6,600 prisoners participating at the height of the strike. A source at the Associated Press notified supporters that prisoners at Calipatria, Corcoran and Tehachapi state prisons remain on strike as of July 21st.Manuel LaFontaine, an organizer with All of Us or None, points out "This strike has been really significant in terms of the media attention it has received but more importantly because it marks a shift in terms of "business as usual" for the CDCR."

Advocates and lawyers will continue to monitor conditions in the SHU at Pelican Bay State Prison and encourage ongoing review of conditions of confinement in all California prisons.
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Ergänzungen

nur in pelican bay beendet.....

against repression against prison 25.07.2011 - 07:47
bisher ist nur bestätigt daß die menschen in pelican bay ihren streik beendet haben.in anderen Knästen geht er weiter - zumindest in tehachapi, corcoran und calipatria.
es gibt auch noch keine nachrichten darüber ob die frauen im state valley knast ihren hungerstreik beendet haben.

"According to family members and friends of prisoners, as well as the CDCR, hunger strikers continue to refuse food across CA-- in at least CCI Tehachapi, Corcoran and Calipatria. It is unclear how long they will continue, if they are aware of the agreement or even believe given the misinformation CDCR has been circulating. As families and friends gear up for another round of weekend visits, we will have more information as to whether hunger strikers will continue protesting CDCR's policies and conditions in the coming days."

 http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/support-still-needed/

die lokalen Unterstützer_Innen

Clara 26.07.2011 - 13:33
Selbstdarstellung der lokalen Unterstützer_Innen:


Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity is a coalition based in the Bay Area with international supporters of prisoner rights advocates, lawyers, community members and anti-prison activist organizations.

The coalition and hunger strike was initiated by prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison.

Coalition partners include: Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, All of Us or None, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, California Prison Focus, Prison Activist Resource Center, Critical Resistance, Kersplebedeb, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Revolution Newspaper, American Friends Service Committee, BarNone Arcata, and a number of individuals throughout the United States and Canada. To get in contact with the coalition, email:  prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity@gmail.com .

For more info, check out our blog:
 http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/

Erklärung einiger Geafngener aus dem HS

in englisch 30.07.2011 - 20:30

Written Statement by Short Corridor Collective
(a small representative of the Hunger Strike Leaders at Pelican Bay)

To Supporters:

On July 1, 2011, a collective group of PBSP-SHU inmates composed of all races began an indefinite hunger strike as a means of peacefully protesting 20-40 years of human rights violations. The offenses against us rose to the level of both physical and mental torture—for example, the coercing of SHU inmates into becoming known informants for the state and thereby placing those prisoners, and possibly their families outside of prison, at serious risk of danger in response to being known to have informed on and caused harm to other inmates via informing on them. The decision to strike was not made on a whim. It came about in response to years of subjection to progressively more primitive conditions and decades of isolation, sensory deprivation and total lack of normal human contact, with no end in sight. This reality, coupled with our prior ineffective collective filing of thousands of inmate grievances and hundreds of court actions to challenge such blatantly illegal policies and practices (as more fully detailed and supported by case law, in our formal complaint available online here) led to our conclusion that a peaceful protest via hunger strike was our only available avenue to expose what's really been going on here in CDCR-SHU prisons and to force meaningful change.

We ended the hunger strike the evening of July 20, 2011, on the basis of CDCR's top level administrators' interactions with our team of mediators, as well as with us directly, wherein they agreed to accede to a few small requests immediately, as a tangible good faith gesture in support of their assurance that all of our other issues will receive real attention, with meaningful changes being implemented over time. They made it clear: such changes would not happen over night, nor would they be made in response to a hunger strike going on.

Many inmates across the state heard about our protest and rose to the occasion in a solid show of support and solidarity, as did thousands of people around the world! Many inmates put their health and lives on the line; many came close to death and experienced medical emergencies. All acted for the collective cause and recognized the great potential for forcing change on the use of SHU units across the country.

With this support in mind, a core group of us was committed to taking the hunger strike to the death, if necessary, to force the changes sought. Naturally, though, we hoped it would not come to that!

On July 20, 2011, several top CDCR administrators sat across the table from us and made assurances that they are in the process of making meaningful changes right now, and will make affecting change a priority in the future, while providing regular updates and engaging in additional dialogue. And, we know they're being forced to restructure the entire CDCR system in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's Plata ruling, which deals with reduction of inmate population.

Thus, our collective decision was to end the hunger strike, on basis of their good faith gesture with a few small things and to give them the opportunity to make good on their assurances, e.g. an end to human rights abuses and torture. This decision drew from our view that we have been successful in exposing CDCR's illegal policies and practices to the world!

And, when it's all said and done, there comes a point where you have to give an entity the opportunity to perform their end of an agreement and the bottom line is this: CDCR could have signed off on a piece of paper, granting all of our demands and telling us, "you'll all be cut loose to the general population prison in six months." Then, six months later, tell us, "we've reconsidered and it's not happening." So, we'll see soon enough where CDCR is really coming from. More important is the fact that while the hunger strike is over, the resistance/struggle to end our subjection to (SHU) human rights violations and torture is just beginning!

We've drawn the line on this and should CDCR fail to carry out meaningful changes in a timely fashion, then we will initiate a class action suit and additional types of peaceful protest. We will not stop until the CDCR ends the illegal policies and practices at SHU!

We're counting on all of our outside supporters to continue to collectively support us and to carry on with shining light on our resistance in here. This is the right time for change in these prisons and the movement is growing across the land! Without the peoples' support outside, we cannot be successful! All support, no matter the size, or content, comes together as a powerful force. We've already brought more mainstream exposure about these CDCR-SHU's than ever before and our time for real change to this system is now! As for CDCR's propaganda—that the hunger strike was initiated and ordered by gang members and the fact that up to 6,600 inmates participated in 13 prisons across the state demonstrates the gangs' influence, which is why they're in SHU in the first place—our response is, (1) CDCR has never responded to our formal complaint, wherein we state, many of us have been in SHU 10-40 years, just based on a CDCR gang label, based on claims by confidential inmate informants; we have never been found guilty of committing an illegal gang-related act! Meanwhile, tens of thousands of other inmates whom CDCR has also labeled as gang affiliates are allowed in the general population of prisons! And, (2) the other inmates who participated did so based on their own recognition of, and decision to resist and protest, their similar conditions! All of our public statements about the PBSP-SHU protest clearly stated it was voluntary and those whose age and/or medical issues were an issue, should not participate! If PBSP-SHU inmates had the influence over the gang affiliates in CDCR prisons, as their propaganda claims, there wouldn't have been tens of thousands of inmates participating in the hunger strike (by CDCR's own statistics, their system is composed of approximately 70% gang affiliates—that's 70% of more than 140,000 inmates!)
The protest and resistance is not about gangs. It's all about a collective effort to end the torture in these SHUs and we hope it sill serve as an example to all inmates: there's real power in collective peaceful protest actions.

Todd Ashker, Arturo Castellanos, George Franco, Louis Powell.

Written July 22nd, 2011
**************************************************************
Declaring a Victory & Ongoing Struggle
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition

July 27, Prisoner Hungerstrike Solidarity:

The Short Corridor Collective, representatives of the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike leaders, released a statement explaining their reasoning behind accepting the CDCR's offer and ending the hunger strike. (see above)
As this struggle enters a new phase post-initial-negotiation with the CDCR, supporters outside prison are called on to carry this fight and make sure that the CDCR follows through with its offer of good faith. Supporters everywhere are called on to continue to amplify prisoners' voices, and to strengthen our ties and connections to better consolidate a growing movement against imprisonment, torture, and all violence. Please keep encouraging everyone you know to refer to this website as a source for information regarding the hunger strike, and the ongoing work to win the five core demands presented by the Pelican Bay hunger strikers.

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org

Questions and comments may be sent to  claude@freedomarchives.org

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