Prisoners at Red Onion State Prison in Wise County, Virginia, went on hunger strike on May 22.  More details can be found at the Solidarity with Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers blog, which lists the ten demands here.  You can join a facebook group to support the strike.

News and Letters Committees issued this solidarity statement:

The courageous prisoners at Red Onion State Prison, VA, are demanding recognition that is due all human beings. Your demands: for edible food, for real grievance procedures, for oversight of guards’ performance, etc., are specific to your institution and conditions. Yet they reverberate with every prisoner and every person who cares about human dignity. Your struggle is a part of many other prisoners’ struggle, too. Georgia prisons went on strike on December 9, 2010. Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, went on hunger strike in January 2011. Pelican Bay SHU prisoners organized a hunger strike in July 2011 and again in September-October 2011, that crossed not only the race/gang divisions the prison forces on prisoners, it inspired solidarity actions in many other California prisons and engendered unprecedented ’till then support from outside, uniting families of prisoners with activists in various actions of support.

We in News and Letters Committees express the firmest solidarity with the strivings of Red Onion prisoners. You are not forgotten! Your struggle is our struggle, is everyone’s struggle for a human world.