Rally To End Solitary Confinement (In Conjunction With Statewide Coordinated Actions)

July marks the 2nd anniversary of the Prisoner Hunger Strike that began July 8, 2013 with over 30,000 CA prisoners and 100’s throughout the US, protesting solitary confinement torture and abusive prison conditions.

Community organizations, families and loved ones of people in solitary, and advocates across California are mobilizing a day of Statewide Coordinated Actions to End Solitary Confinement each month. These mobilizations are a response to a proposal from prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison involved in the 2011 and 2013 Hunger Strikes, who put forward the idea of designating a day each month as Prisoner’s Rights Day.

“Our outside supporters have all of our gratitude; their tireless efforts supportive of our cause make a giant positive difference,” says Todd Ashker, a prisoner who has been in solitary at Pelican Bay State Prison for two decades, and a lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against California for the use of solitary confinement. “They have recently begun monthly supportive actions---across the state---publicly rallying on the 23rd of each month for the purpose of keeping the subject of our endless torture in public view, and thereby exposed to the world. The 23rd of each month is symbolic of our 23+ hours per day in these tombs-of-the-living-dead---and it is hoped such rallies will spread across the nation.”