About 1,500 of the 2,200 pris oners at the Rikers Island Peni tentiary have refused to eat meals or perform work assign ments since Thursday morning, an official of the city's Depart ment of Correction said last night.

Anthony Principe, the depart ntent's director of operations, said that the hunger strike and work stoppage was the first in methory here “on a mass basis.”

George F. McGrath, the Com‐. missioner of Correction, could not be reached last night for comment.

According to Mr. Principe, the striking inmates sent peti tions to Mr. McGrath and to Governor Rockefeller and May or Lindsay saying they were protesting a 1967 law that cut in half the amount of time pris oners are allowed off their sentences for good behavior.

The petitions argued that the 1967 Penal Law had contributed to overcrowding in city prisons by reducing from 10 days to five the time off for each month of good behavior. The inmates demanded a restoration of the 10‐day formula, Mr. Principe said.