NCJ Number
141854
Journal
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (1993) Pages: 47- 49
Date Published
1993
Length
3 pages
Annotation
An American Indian inmate at the Federal prison in Marion, Illinois describes the conditions he is experiencing and explains why he has decided to fast to death as soon as the courts prevent the United States Bureau of Prisons from force-feeding him.
Abstract
He is being joined in this fast by another American Indian and by a Jewish man, because they are denying them their constitutional right to practice their religion. The Jewish inmate who will fast has received reprisals from correctional guards as a result of other inmates' killing of two guards who were Klansmen who were tormenting other Jewish inmates. The author is locked in a cage with dimensions of 6 feet by 9 feet. The open toilet makes an acrid stench, and he is allowed to clean it once a week. All inmate programs at the facility have been discontinued as an act of revenge by the warden against trouble involving inmates in another part of the prison on October 22, 1983. The author's cell has only a bed. He cannot obtain medical attention for a painful degenerative disc disease. The facility lacks a law library and an educational program. Although the author could learn to live with most of these conditions, he cannot live with the denial of every aspect of his religion. Therefore, he and the two other inmates enter this fast and will pray not only for other inmates but also for all the people and other living things in the world. They will fast until they die or are allowed to practice their religion.