March 26, 2016: The food strike started on 3/20 spreads to a second facility with at least 800 prisoners refusing meals at Chippewa, as reported by the prison administration.
2016
20
Mar
Michigan Food Strike Begins at Kinross Correctional Facility, Michigan
March 20-21, 2016: Prisoners organize a food strike to protest poor food quality by the privatized food contractor Trinity Services Group just eight months after Trinity takes over the role from Aramark Correctional Services. According to a prisoner at Kinross who participated in the events, the protests are also a demonstration of prisoner unity. According to prison administration, at least 1,000 of the prison’s 1,300 prisoners participate.
14
Mar
Uprising at Holman Correctional, Alabama – Part 2
March 14, 2016: Despite lockdown from Friday night’s uprising, prisoners attack guards again and retake the dorm on Sunday. Again, emergency response teams armed with shotguns regain control of the unit. Rebels are restrained and taken to the basketball courts, where they are beaten.
12
Mar
Uprising at Holman Correctional, Alabama – Part 1
March 11-12, 2016: Prison staff intervene in a conflict between two groups of prisoners. The prisoners respond by attacking the guards. Warden Carter Davenport is stabbed during the altercation. Staff retreat and prisoners destroy a large amount of prison property, sending pictures and videos out to supporters and media using contraband phones. They get keys from a guard control station and unlock other dorms to free other prisoners, some of whom join in and set up barricades. When emergency response teams arrive with shotguns, the prisoners surrender.
02
Mar
Hunger Strike at Regina Provincial Correctional Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada
March 2, 2016 – (end date unknown): Sixteen prisoners in the prison’s high security unit 2D1 launched a hunger strike in protest of extended periods of lockdown. One of the prisoners, Forrest Pelletier, spoke to the CBC, explaining that as pre-trial detainees, the prisoners deserve less restrictive conditions of confinement. “We’re tired of being locked up 21 hours a day. You know it’s like we’re in a super-max correctional facility, and it’s like we’re guilty until proven innocent. You know a lot of us never had our day in court.”
