Inmates set to revive hunger strike in protest
Prisoners from multiple jails plan to take part in fight for reforms
SANJOSE » Potentially hundreds of inmates in the Bay Area may resume a hunger strike they started last year after contending that officials have not sufficiently improved jail conditions as promised, particularly with alleged inmate isolation.
Prisoners United of Silicon Valley, the inmate coalition backed by local civil-rights groups, announced Thursday that they will commence the hunger strike Sunday.
Inmates at the Santa Clara County Main Jail and the Elmwood Correctional Complex — which houses lower-security male inmates and most female inmates — are expected to participate. But in a new development this year, the
hunger strike is reportedly set to also include inmates at the two largest jails in Alameda County, Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and the Glenn Dyer Detention Facility in Oakland.
Sunday would be one year to the day after the South Bay inmates “suspended” the last strike, which was planned for two weeks but ultimately lasted three days after jail administrators met with inmates and reached an apparent agreement.
But the result of those talks is in dispute: inmates and their advocates came away believing they had negotiated tangible changes, while officials say they were simply listening to inmate concerns and aimed to be receptive, but made no hard-and-fast promises.
In a letter addressed to Sheriff Laurie Smith this week, Prisoners United wrote that they have “exhausted all attempts” to get officials to back their pledges to, among other things, end isolation of inmates through highly restricted out-of-cell time and ease visitation restrictions for lower-security inmates.
“We will continue our peaceful protest to end torturous practices of solitary confinement and oppressive classification reviews until there is tangible and meaningful change for all prisoners,” the inmates’ letter stated.
When the hunger strike occurred last year, Smith asserted that solitary confinement had already been abolished in the county jails, and that maximumsecurity inmates are held in individual cells, but are given six to eight hours of “out time” to a common area of the housing unit, which is double the state minimum.
Inmate advocates argued the free time was in virtual isolation given that they rarely come across other inmates, and are kept in a mostly enclosed area. A plaintiff in a Prison Law Office lawsuit against the county said he did not see sunlight or breathe fresh air for seven months.
The Sheriff’s Office responded to the grievances by insisting inmate concerns aired last year are be- ing addressed.
“We’ve implemented an improved classification systemthat has led tomore out of cell time and programs for a greater number of inmates while at the same time providing the appropriate security measures for our most violent offenders,” the agency said in a statement.
The inmate coalition takes particular issue with policies that restrict an inmate’s ability to be downgraded security-wise based on gang affiliations. That grievance is of particular importance to Larry Lucero, who authorities describe as a regional leader of the Nuestra Familia prison gang and is in the Main Jail after being indicted along with 47 other people four years ago in the largest single gang-related prosecution in county history.
Lucero helped lead the talks that ended last year’s hunger strike. A law- enforcement source told this news organization that jail administrators worry that given his out- sized profile and influence, further integrating Lucero and inmates of similar stature into the broader jail population would lead to more jail violence. They already blame a purported rise in inmate- on-inmate violence this year in large part to rising gang tensions within the walls.
Thursday’s announcement comes amid a twoyear reform effort of the Santa Clara County jail system following the 2015 beating death of mentally inmate Michael Tyree, which led to the murder convictions of three jail deputies. Ensuing scrutiny on the system resulted in the arrests of nearly a dozen other jail deputies for assorted misconduct, highlighted by inmate abuse. Last month, the Board of Supervisors heard a longdeveloping proposal to install a civilian oversight panel to oversee jail operations.
“We will continue to listen to feedback from inmates, their family members and the public on ways we can improve our overall operations as well as follow through on our reform plan,” the Sheriff’s Office said.