How four rival gang leaders coordinated mass hunger strike from solitary confinement cells

A hunger strike in California prisons took place last year

It was organized by four alleged leaders from rival racially aligned gangs from the Pelican Bay State Prison's SHU

The men were in solitary confinement at the facility, which houses 'the worst of the worst'

The unlikely allies were protesting conditions in confinement, including that a gang member may be kept in isolation indefinitely, with a review only once every six years

They spent years orchestrating the strike in snatched conversations, shouting through walls and down drainpipes and passing messages through lawyers



They communicated their plan to other prisoners though letters to activist groups and friends and family members



At its beginning, 30,000 prisoners took part in the strike

By day 40, 69 inmates remained on strike and the state won permission to force-feed them

The strike ended on day 59, when the inmates won a promise of a special hearing on conditions in the SHU

Four alleged members of rival gangs in the California prison system launched a hunger strike from solitary confinement that at one point in 2013 comprised 32,000 inmates - black, white and Latino - from 33 prisons, it has been revealed.



The coordinated 59-day hunger-strike by opposing, racially aligned gangs resulted in a second legislative hearing into SHU conditions in Sacramento in February during which the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation unveiled a package of new regulations.



From the Pelican Bay State Prison's Security Housing Unit (SHU), Todd Ashker, allegedly a senior member of the Aryan Brotherhood (an affiliation he denies), Sitawa Jamaa, alleged minister of education for the Black Guerilla Family, Arturo Castellanos, allegedly a leader in the Mexican Mafia and Antonio Guillen, allegely one of three generals of Nuestra Familia spent years shouting through cell walls to form a political alliance and organize the strike.



Unlikely allies: Todd Ashkar (left) an alleged member of the Aryan Brotherhood and Sitawa Jamaa (right), allegedly a member of the Black Guerilla Family



Hispanic gangs: Arturo Castellanos (left), allegedly a member of the Mexican Mafia, and Antonio Guillen (right), an alleged leader of Nuestra Familia



The strikers’ grievances centered on the solitary confinement policy that some experts consider the most oppressive in the country.



The California prison system dictates that a confirmed gang member may be kept in the SHU indefinitely, with a review only once every six years - a policy more extreme than that for prisoners who kill another prisoner or guard.

Some inmates have lived at the Pelican Bay SHU, where they are locked up 22 hours per day in seven by 10 cells, are not allowed phone calls and cannot have face-to-face contact with other humans, for four decades , reports the Mint Press News.

The strict isolation policy is not devised as a punishment, but rather functions to isolate dangerous gang members from the rest of the prison population, curbing gang activity.



Following a reorganization of the SHU to separate members of the same gangs in 2006, the most influential leaders of each gang came to be housed in a 'pod' together in a wing called the Short Corridor away from underlings who could be relied upon to do their bidding, reports New York Magazine.

Behind bars: Gang members sent to the SHU could expect to languish for decades

Solitary cell: The men spend most of their time in a tiny, austere cell

Ashker, Jamaa, Castellanos and Guillen conducted a years-long conversation through drain pipes and holes in perforated doors, via secret notes and messages through lawyers, in which they became allies for the same cause and called themselves the Short Corridor Collective.



Inspired by readings about prison protester Bobby Sands and philosophical works by Michel Foucault and Howard Zinn, the prisoners formulated their plan for a statewide hunger strike.



For Ashker, the idea that they were all members of a single prisoner class and that racial segregation into gangs was encouraged by prisons to keep them divided resonated, reports New York Magazine.



The men sent letters to an activist group explaining the strike and the reasoning behind it, and asking their fellow prisoners to join them.



Letters to family and friends spread word of the action further.



Despite years without seeing another person, the influence of the men in their respective gangs was still potent.



Isolated: Pelican Bay State Prison SHU, in a lonely spot near the Oregon coast, is home to 1,100 inmates

Meals are delivered through a slot in the door and inmates have a court-mandated five hours of exercise per week in a concrete run

'Castellanos is, if not the most influential Mexican Mafia member, right there at the top. Once you put his name on something with orders, the southern Hispanics are going to do it,' Lieutenant Jeremy Frisk of Pelican Bay's Institutional Gang Investigations told New York Magazine.



A former Nuestra Familia member confirms his influence in the strike: 'It was Chuco Guillen, 100 per cent,' he said.



By the time the hunger strikers were 40 days into their self-imposed starvation, 69 remained.



The strike was finally broken on its 59th day after Jamaa convinced the others that a promise of a special hearing on conditions in the SHU was a victory.



The state had already won permission to force-feed any inmate whose action put them close to death, reports New York Magazine.



On September 5 2013, the Short Corridor 'suspended' its action.



At the hearing in February, officials agreed that the SHU needs to change.



'We all agree that it is far too easy to get in and too hard to get out, and the stays in this environment have been far too long,' Martin Hoshino, an undersecretary of Corrections, testified.

