Polk Correctional Institution, Butner, North Carolina
January 2 – 12, 2019 (end date approximate)
Prisoner Joseph Steward and nine other prisoners launched a hunger strike to demand access to phone calls while in isolation and to call attention to various other conditions in the segregation unit. According to Steward, state law grants him phone access while in isolation. Steward writes:
“I am seeking your assistance to bring attention to our hunger strike. We need a mass call-in to this facility at 919.575.3070. Ask to speak to Superintendant Mr. Walker. Let them know you’re calling on my behalf and this hunger strike, and that you want to know why we’re not being given phone calls when policy states we have that right? Why aren’t we given outside rec when policy state we have that right? Why is our mail being impeded or not given to us at all?”
According to a letter from a hunger striking prisoner supplied to Perilous, the strike lasted eleven days.
Citations:
“NC Prison Rebels on Hunger Strike: Call-In to Demand Phone Access!“, It’s Going Down, January 9, 2019.
Anonymous Prisoner Letter, February 10, 2019.
