On Jan. 10, as many as 300 men at prisons across the state had signed on to begin a hunger strike to protest Texas’ solitary confinement practices.Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions.
In a proposal sent last year to prison officials and state lawmakers, the men asked instead for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to put people in solitary for dangerous or assaultive behavior, not for a status label. It is unfair, they argued, to keep men in isolation for gang membership if they have otherwise not broken any prison rules.
The prison system has clamped down on communication with prisoners participating in the hunger strike. The agency is refusing all media interview requests with men, according to Hernandez, citing security concerns. Joshua Allen Sweeting, 42, is housed at the Coffield Unit. He has been in and out of prison since 2000, most recently serving an eight-year sentence for an attempted home burglary, according to prison records. He is set for release in 2025 at the latest.
“This is not about us trying to run the prison, its about humanity. its about us being treated as humans and given a chance to prove we deserve to be treated as such.” “I do understand that I was sent here for something I did and I’ve taken full responsibility for it and am truly sorry for what I did but I’ve bee paying my debt to society.”
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