About 16 inmates at the county jail in Riverside went on a hunger strike last week to protest policies they said were being violated or needed to be changed.

The wife of one of the inmates said when the strike ended Friday, they did get some verbal promises from deputies that their complaints would be considered, but “we’ll wait to see if they carry any of those out.”

Riverside County sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Chris Willison said he couldn’t comment on any specific issues raised, but any time an inmate files a grievance, there are protocols to make sure their needs are addressed. He didn’t elaborate.

The inmates in the hunger strike were at the Robert Presley Detention Center in the administrative segregation unit, or “ad-seg,” which is for inmates who are removed from the general population for disciplinary or safety purposes.

They’re kept isolated 23 1/2 hours per day, and let out for 30 minutes of “day-room time” to do things like take a shower and call their family, said Michelle Delahanty, 37, of Lake Elsinore, whose husband, Brian Delahanty, 41, has been there since December.

Although the segregated inmates can’t see each other, they can talk, and they coordinated the hunger strike to start Monday, Jan. 14. She said everyone in there was participating.

“It started because the guys were frustrated with the way the policies are run there,” Michelle Delahanty said. “There are so many things they feel are being violated.”

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Tributes mark procession of fallen El Dorado firefighter off the mountain Among the issues she cited were inmates not always getting their 30 minutes of time out, having it cut short if the unit needs to be locked down while someone is moved and losing access to hygiene items from the commissary.

Delahanty said she went to visit her husband Sunday and someone had defecated in the visiting area. It had been cleaned up, but her husband said it still smelled terrible on his side of the glass.

“That’s one of the things (the ad-seg inmates want changed) — to not be with the people who need additional mental health care,” she said.

Delahanty also said some of the inmates aren’t getting the medical care they need.

She said her husband was diagnosed with high blood pressure a few months ago in jail and told he needed medication, but hasn’t gotten any yet despite repeated requests. That’s part of the reason she encouraged him to stop participating in the hunger strike — she said he was getting delirious and couldn’t focus when they talked on the phone.

“Honey, you can’t go days without eating if you have high blood pressure; you’re gonna have a stroke,” she said she told him. He dropped out Thursday, she said.

Brian Delahanty, who’s in jail on a charge of felony burglary, started off at the Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in French Valley, but was transferred to Riverside when he was put into ad-seg following a fight. His trial is about to start at the French Valley courthouse, so he’s been trying to get transferred back.

Michelle Delahanty said deputies told him if he was still a part of the hunger strike, it could lessen his chances.

Sheriff’s officials wouldn’t confirm or deny Delahanty’s claims or address whether administrative segregation policies were being violated.

Willison said inmates who were striking were still served meals in case they chose to eat, and were weighed and monitored by medical staff. He said the inmates had access to any items in their cells that they’d purchased from the commissary, and some were eating that food.

Michelle Delahanty, however, said she tried to send packages to her husband and another inmate and the order was denied so they wouldn’t have food during the strike.

Willison said hunger strikes in the county jails are pretty rare; he couldn’t remember one happening since 2017, when more than 20 inmates in administrative segregation stopped eating their county-issued meals to protest many of the same issues that were raised this time around.

The strike ended after 19 days with no policy changes the inmates had been demanding.