Inmate families, advocates say hunger strike larger than reported

Wynne Unit in Huntsville, TX seen on June 25, 2015. Wynne Unit in Huntsville, TX seen on June 25, 2015. Photo: Billy Smith II, Billy Smith II / Houston Chronicle Photo: Billy Smith II, Billy Smith II / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Inmate families, advocates say hunger strike larger than reported 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Prisoners and inmate advocates say the ongoing Wynne Unit hunger strike started three days earlier and involved more than twice as many men as initially reported.

One wing at the Huntsville prison went on lock down in late March, a move Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel said was in response to an uptick in disciplinary infractions, including feces-throwing and verbal abuse toward staff.

After 156 men on the unit had been locked down for three weeks, prison officials said the hunger strike began on Friday but later clarified that some of the men started refusing food three days earlier.

"They're not on hunger strike classification till they meet our criteria," Desel said. TDCJ considers refusal to eat a hunger strike after nine missed meals.

At its peak, the action involved 22 prisoners, according to TDCJ. Some joined the hunger strike and others dropped out, and by Wednesday morning 13 inmates were participating, the department said.

But prisoners disputed those figures.

"I am writing to inform you that last night 49 men on medium custody housing on John M. Wynne unit refused food and went on an official hunger strike to protest the overall conditions they were subjected to and the hostile and retaliatory nature of the officers and rank," one prisoner wrote in a letter to someone on the outside on April 10. Another prisoner also wrote that the action involved about 50 men.

One of the inmates also alleged that the March 23 lockdown began not as the result of disciplinary infractions but in retaliation for an alleged beating.

"On March 22, during breakfast time, an overly aggressive sergeant confronted and then assaulted an inmate on medium custody," the prisoner wrote, going on to allege that the sergeant in question had a history of use-of-force. "They placed him in PHD [pre-hearing detention] and the next day they placed G4 inmates on a 30-day disciplinary lockdown, as collective punishment."

Desel stressed that the lockdown wasn't tied to a single incident, but stemmed from a variety of infractions "ranging from assault on an officer, to assault on an offender, to possession of contraband."

The lockdown came on the heels of a norovirus outbreak that put the unit on medical restriction. With no janitors to clean up the hallways, inmates began tossing newspapers full of feces into common areas, according to prison officials.

Later, once the medical restriction turned into a lockdown, one prisoner allegedly threw feces at an officer.

Citing letters, Jennifer Erschabek with the Texas Inmate Families Association said the feces-tossing may have actually been a man trying to clean out his colostomy bag without help from the medical staff, but Desel said he had "not heard that."

Erschabek also expressed concerns about conditions on the unit, pointing to letters from prisoners alleging a lack of hot water in the cells, piled up trash and difficulty flushing toilets.

News of the hunger strike first came less than a day after a seven-hour jailhouse brawl in South Carolina that killed seven and became the worst prison riot in a quarter century.

Just before the start of the year, a group of about 45 inmates at the Allred Unit in north Texas went on hunger strike, citing complaints over recreational time and food portions and temperature. The action ended in early January, though it wasn't clear if anything was done to address the complaints.