Ohio Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike After 17 Years in Solitary Confinement

On January 3, four prisoners who were sentenced to death after being wrongfully convicted of crimes following a 1993 prison uprising in Lucasville, Ohio, started a “rolling” hunger strike to protest the conditions of their confinement.

The prisoners, unlike the 125 death row inmates being housed at Ohio State Penitentiary, are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours every day, completely isolated from contact with others and prevented from ordering necessary goods such as clothing to keep them warm in their cold cells. They are aslo denied medical treatment and access to computer databases necessary for preparing their appeals, and despite their ongoing cooperation with prison programs, they have been refused privileges typically granted to prisoners for good behavior.

This treatment has been ongoing for over 17 years.

If moved from solitary confinement to death row, the prisoners would be able to have semi-contact visits from their families and interact with other inmates. But they have been told that they will remain in isolation, locked behind a solid cell door, until they are put to death.

In a public statement, Bomani Shakur, who began refusing food on January 3, states: “This is a protest, the only nonviolent way I can think of to express the deep disdain I have for the unjust situation that I am in … to continue on in this way would be to lend legitimacy to a process that is both fraudulent and vindictive; this I am no longer willing to do.”

On January 6, Iman Siddique Abdullah Hasan (convicted as Keith LaMar), a leader of the Sunni Muslims and a negotiator for prisoners during the 1993 rebellion, will join the hunger strike. Though negotiations over the rebellion -- during which hundreds of prisoners protested their conditions -- resulted in the avoidance of a massacre, Hasan was rewarded with a death sentence. Jason Robb, an Aryan Brotherhood leader who was also a negotiator during the uprising, will begin refusing meals on January 9, and Namir Abdul Mateen (aka James Were) will join the strike to the extent that his health allows. Despite their seemingly disparate affiliations, the men have maintained a strong sense of unity ever since the 1993 rebellion.

A fifth man sentenced to death after the uprising, George Skatzes, is being housed at another prison.

In recent years, key witnesses have recanted testimony about Shakur, Hasan, Mateen and Robb’s roles in the Lucasville rebellion. Attorney Staughton Lynd has found proof that their convictions were based on the accounts of witnesses who were given reduced sentences in exchange for committing perjury.

Bomani writes, “When I was first named as a suspect in riot-related crimes, I was certain that my name would eventually be cleared. Instead, I received a nine-count murder indictment with death-penalty specifications. I was shocked. And then they offered me a deal: 'Cop out to murder and we’ll forget the whole thing,' they told me. 'But I’m innocent,' I said, thinking to myself that the truth of this would somehow set me free. And so, with the trust and faith of a fool, I went to trial, thinking and believing that I would receive a fair one (I didn’t) and that I would ultimately be exonerated (I wasn’t).” Instead, he sits alone, deprived of basic rights, wishing he could touch his beloved niece and nephew and immerse himself in preparations for his appeal.

Ohio, second only to Texas in the number of executions performed, was the only state to put more people to death in 2010 than in 2009. And John Kasich, a staunch Republican, is being inaugurated as governor.

It’s time to take action.

Supporters of the hunger strikers will hold a rally and press conference on January 15, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, at the gates of Ohio State Penitentiary. It is imperative that we send Kasich the message that the inhumane treatment of prisoners will not be tolerated, and demand that the four hunger strikers be moved to death row and that their convictions be reexamined.

Please join the call to remove the Lucasville Four from solitary confinement.

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Photo Credit: Radical Graphics