STATEMENT on the Hunger Strike

On February 1, 2004, 12-15 of the 24 inmates (according to the prisoners) confined to Florida State Prison's Q-Wing initiated a hunger strike as an effort to bring attention to the conditions they are forced to endure. What they are trying to accomplish, is to be given their basic rights, like not having to chose between food poisoning or going to bed hungry, to be given clothing that enables them to keep reasonably warm in the winter months, to be able to keep themselves clean, to be able to stimulate their minds with a newspaper, a book or a magazine, and not having to be confined to a 9 x 7 ft. cell 24/7, 7 days a week, 30 days a month.

This type of confinement is torturous. DOC's own mission is the following:

"The Department of Corrections protects the public by operating a safe, secure, humane and efficient corrections system. "

There is no difference between such confinement and spending an extended period of time inside a bank vault without even knowing for how long you will be kept there. This type of confinement was designed to keep a threatening situation under control and intended as a temporary solution. DOC's own rules state the following:

33-601.820 Maximum Management. (1) General. Maximum Management is a temporary status for an inmate who, through a recent incident or a series of recent incidents, has been identified as being an extreme security risk to the Department and requires an immediate level of control beyond that available in close management or death row.

The Q-Wing is what was previously called the X-wing, but renamed after Frank Valdez who was beaten to death by 9 FSP prison guards.

Former Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, Michael Moore designed chapter 33-601-820 M/M FAC, directly after this incident.

In Section (1) General M/M, it is specifically pointed out that this is a temporary status for an inmate who through a recent incident or a series of recent incidents has been identified as being an extreme security risk to the department and requires an immediate level of control beyond that available in CM or Death Row.

The participants in the hunger strike are protesting the confinement to Maximum Management, which has been applied without justification. Records of inmates will reveal that M/M is not being used as a temporary status and will also reveal that the inmates are being left under initial placement not for days or weeks but months and even years. These inmates are examples of how DOC interprets "temporary" and "recent".

OTHER SERIOUS ISSUES:

• Recreation. The inmates are confined to a 9 x 7 ft. cell (63 ft2), 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 30 days a month. Once a month, they receive recreation. And that is only maybe.
• Stimulation of the mind - Basic human need. There are no TV's, no radios, newspapers, magazines or books. There is nothing to occupy the human mind, and no way of knowing what is going on in society.
• Nurturing Contact - Basic human need. They are all denied visitation and phone calls from family and friends, which may last not weeks or months, but for years at a time.
• Food - Basic human need. They are denied canteen / commissary rights. They go to bed hungry, because of the scandalous situation with the State Department of Corrections' contractor, Aramark. The food as it is being served are not nearly sufficient, it's either raw, cold and / or containing bacteria. Recently, a large part of the population in another Florida correctional facility ended up in hospital from food poisoning. The seriousness of this specific situation is getting worse combined with the lack of possibility to buy food supplements from the canteen. These inmates are never given a full meal and if they did, they would be very well aware of the health risk the Aramark food represents.
• Hygiene - Basic human need. The inmates in M/M are not allowed shampoo, mouthwash, or deodorant to help body odour. They are forced to use non-scented state soap or toothpaste under their arms.
• Warmth - Basic human need. The cells are freezing cold/ unbearably hot.
• Release from isolation - Basic human need. Chapter 33-601.820, Maximum Management. Florida Administrative Codes state in the rules that Maximum Management is a temporary status for an inmate, who through a current / recent incident, requires an immediate level of control. Most of the inmates under this rule have been disciplinary-report-free for months and in some cases years. Yet, they are deprived of their property, privileges, and rights. The rules state in Section (4)(c) that upon positive adjustment the inmate's conditions will be adjusted to that of Close Management 1; yet no matter how long they go discipline-report-free, they are denied Close Management 1 privileges.

SOLUTIONS:

• A directive for a release to be added to Chapter 33-601.820 Maximum Management, which is noticeably absent from the directive, and that is how the administration is able to manipulate this rule and use it as a continuous form of punitive isolation.
• The right to weekly recreation, which is provided in a secure 10 x 20 ft. dog run.
• The right to adequate clothing in the winter months.
• The right to receive books, magazines, and newspapers.
• The radios to be returned to the inmates.
• The canteen / commissary rights to be restored to that of Close Management 1 or Death Row, according to status.
• Return of phone calls and visitation.
• There will be no denial of any of the above rights, privileges, and property without procedural due process being afforded.

SOME REACTIONS FROM CLOSE RELATIVES:

"My son is at FSP on Close Management 1. He has been on this status for over a year now, but goes up for review this month. Hopefully, he will be sent to Close Management 2. When he arrived at FSP, he was put on the maximum management level, which means no privileges whatsoever. He only had a bible to read, no canteen privilege and no phone call privilege. He was allowed one (1) shower per week, and sometimes that didn't even happen. He was on this status for about 4 months before going on to CM1. If he continued on maximum management, I am sure he would have lost his mind completely. All I could do was write him letters everyday, so at least he would have something to read. The food was not edible and he went hungry all the time! He writes me that he prays that he does not become victim to the rogue guards on his wing. It would be wonderful if something could be done about the horrific conditions at FSP, but do you want to know something? Nothing will ever happen because of "fear of retaliation. Sure, I could make a stink to the warden or classification, but what would that do? I don't want to put my son through more abuse than what he has already endured. My son has told me about other inmates being on maximum management for years at a time. They have no family or friends to send them letters or visit them. The guards do what they want with them because who will they complain to?"

"I just heard about the hunger strike at FSP. My son did not tell me about this and apparently, I was not supposed to know. It is so very rare for him not to let me know what he is doing, but I understand why he has not told me. I understand why he is doing this and why he did not tell me, but would you please let me know what is going on down there?"

"Please tell me my son isn't going to beaten and thrown in a cell with no mattress on arrival to FSP. Sometimes I read this stuff and I want to stick a knife in my own heart.............Please tell me it won't happen to him. This is killing me. Please tell me."

Statement from Florida Death Row Advocacy Group (FDRAG)

Florida Death Row Advocacy Group is asking the DOC to correct what is not in compliance with their own rules, and to review the classification status for the inmates who have spent more time in Maximum Management than any reasonable person can possibly call "for a recent incident" or as a "temporary" solution.

We also ask that all prisoners will be given adequate and sufficient food, clothing, weekly recreation, possibilities to maintain a healthy minimum of hygiene, a stop to the extreme isolation, possibilities to keep their sanity by stimulating their minds, either by hobby crafts, radios, TV's, literature, etc. and ability to get visits from friends and relatives. These prisoners are already serving harsh sentences even to death. Not to years and years of torture.

The heart of Gods law is mercy…..

"i was in prison and you visited me"

"i was hungry and you fed me"

"i was naked and you clothed me"

"whatever you do to the least of your brethren, you do unto me"

"remember the prisoner as if chained with them"

" you have heard that it was said: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, "but i tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." Matt. 5:38

You have heard it said :" you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy" But i say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitelfuly use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your father in heaven... Matt 5:44-45

God have mercy on us all….