In the past two years we have witnessed the unique and unprecedented growth of prisoner protests. These global protests have been mainly led by political prisoners, such as - Kurdish prisoners in Turkey, multinationals in the United States‘ Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Palestinians in Israeli prisons, Bahraini and Tunisian prisoners of conscience, political prisoners in Russia and China and many others. Prisoners are protesting for various reasons, including the very essence of the "offences" that led to their incarceration, their mistreatment and the deleterious prison conditions. We have also witnessed the largest ever hunger strike in the United States, with an estimated 30,000 prisoners taking part in California prisons at its outset.

 

These unprecedented protests highlight the historical policy of criminalizing political resistance to occupation and oppression, poverty, social and ethnic diversity, and asylum seeking. The protests have also drawn attention to unfair economic and social policies which are the leading causes of imprisonment.

 

 

More than 10.1 million women, men and children are held in prisons throughout the world. Almost half of these are in the United States, Russia or China.[2] On the pretense that denial of liberty makes societies and countries safer or more secure, many governments around the world are engaging in systematic cruel and inhuman punishment as well as torture. However, it has been shown that imprisonment is counterproductive and does not promote safety and security, and it weakens the social and political structure causing the loss of jobs, damage to relationships and family ties, exacerbation of psychological and mental conditions, deterioration of physical health, and continued or increased drug abuse.

 

Furthermore, the use of imprisonment perpetuates racist and xenophobic perceptions toward indigenous people, social, religious and racial minorities and other societies, and marginalized communities, portraying them as a threat to the social and world order because of their presumed criminality.

 

The Protest: 12 Palestinian political prisoners and detainees (five of which hold Jordanian citizenship) are currently engaged in hunger strikes protesting their political persecution, arbitrary detention, hostile policies and inhumane prison conditions. The periods of their strike range from 31 to 95 days. These hunger strikes have been on-going since the second half of 2011.

State reaction: The Government of Israel is currently drafting a proposed bill that would allow the force-feeding of Palestinian political prisoners on hunger-strike. The proposed bill by the Justice Ministry as well as security and intelligence agencies is clearly designed to subdue the prisoners. We believe that medical decision making, both professionally and ethically, should not in any circumstances be regulated and controlled by political interests or security agencies.

 

The Protest: Since February 2013, a considerable number of detainees have engaged in a hunger strike in protest of their indefinite detention without trial and in opposition to the mistreatment they endure from the prison authorities.

State Reaction: Many of the hunger striking prisoners have been force fed, and others have also been threatened with force feeding.

 

The Protest: Some 30,000 prisoners launched a mass hunger strike in July 2013, protesting unjust living conditions and mass segregation into what the state calls "Secure Housing Units," (SHUs) where prisoners are held in solitary confinement indefinitely. Currently, there are just under 1,000 prisoners engaged in the strike.

State Reaction: The prison authorities have taken several measures in an attempt to break the strike includingthreatening prisoners with force feeding; isolating leaders of the strike; revocation of family visits and mail; banning of lawyers visits; and denying prisoners access to their legal files.

 

It is evident that states are unwilling to change their policies of imprisonment as doing so would entail both political and social challenges and changes. Instead they are thus busy justifying it, subduing protests in prisons and criticism from civil society. However, it is crucial to address the precarious situation of one of the most vulnerable segments of society – prisoners in general and those prisoners on hunger strike in particular. Under no circumstances should force feeding ever be used; the choice of legalizing and conducting force-feeding is equal to legalizing torture and inhuman treatment; while medical ethics and professionalism should be paramount in the treatment of such protests, and must be followed and respected.

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