Hunger Strike Set to Begin May 25 at Folsom State Prison

[ East Gate of Folsom Prison, opened in 1880. ]


Hunger strike set to begin May 25 in Old Folsom ASU/Ad-Seg*

* ASU is Administrative Segregation Unit also known as AD/SEG, solitary confinement, or the hole.

by Anthony Estrada via a family member

The men at Old Folsom State Prison in the ASU and Ad-Seg will begin a hunger strike on May 25 due to ongoing issues with the conditions of confinement that violate the Eighth Amendment. All the prisoners held in Folsom’s ASU and Ad-Seg are without food bowls, therefore having to eat out of ziplock bags. They have no cups, needing to drink water from an old milk carton. They have no TVs, no property at all. The mail is sometimes withheld for no reason – up to a month for some prisoners, for others even longer.

The prison is refusing to provide them with education, rehabilitative programs, cleaning supplies for toilets and cells. They’re being housed there long term and feel the administration is just depriving them to force them to plead guilty on 115s to go to SHUs, but if they do that it will affect them in court.

They’ve exhausted the 602 process, reached out to the ombudsman, who has yet to interview a prisoner regarding these ongoing problems that seem to get worse. They’ve reached out to the PIO (public information officer) at the prison and have gotten nowhere.

All they’re asking for is to be given day to day necessities. So in order to have their voices heard, they feel they have no choice but to hunger strike.

Send our brother some love and light: Anthony Estrada, T-80277, P.O. Box 715071, Represa CA 95671.