“The California prisoners’ hunger strike is
a courageous call for the California prison system to come out of the shadows
and join a world in which the rights and dignity of every person is respected.” That’s the closer of an oped piece by Angela Davis, “professor emeritus
of history of consciousness and feminist studies at the University of
California, Santa Cruz.” There’s a lot more to professor Davis, and her latest
cause could also stand some scrutiny. Peter
Coyote, Susan Sarandon and other Hollywood celebrities have signed a letter of
support for prisoners engaged in a hunger strike over conditions in the
security housing unit at Pelican Bay State Prison. Professor Davis claims such
solitary confinement constitutes “torture.” But according to the liberal
editorial board of the Sacramento Bee, which has been critical of
Pelican Bay in the past, the stars “ought to save their outrage.”
The inmates fomenting the hunger strike,
who claim their human rights are being violated, “include killers and leaders
of the most brutal gangs in the prison system. They are from the Aryan
Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family, Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia.” Prison
officials say the hunger strike “has nothing to do with conditions and
everything to do with gang leaders wanting to get into the general population
so they can more readily conduct their gang business.” The Bee agrees,
and adds some detail.
The inmates fomenting the hunger strike,
who claim their human rights are being violated, “include killers and leaders
of the most brutal gangs in the prison system. They are from the Aryan
Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family, Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia.” Prison
officials say the hunger strike “has nothing to do with conditions and
everything to do with gang leaders wanting to get into the general population
so they can more readily conduct their gang business.” The Bee agrees,
and adds some detail.....To Read More…..
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