TX Public Radio: “For the first time in seven weeks, no men in Texas’ solitary confinement program known as “restrictive housing” were refusing food in protest. The last participants began eating Tuesday, according to officials at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The hunger strike was in protest over living conditions in, and the use of indefinite solitary confinement. About 3100 people in Texas prisons spend at least 22 hours a day in a room about the size of a parking spot. The United Nations has called for an end to the use of solitary, calling it torture.
The state has said it uses the practice to maintain order, especially among prison gang members who are often automatically added to solitary regardless of behavior. Prisoners said they wanted changes, including additional access to technology, showers, and the ability to accrue “good time” or a behavior-based reduction in sentence.”