December 5, 2019: Two prisoners at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility barricaded themselves in their cell and refused orders from guards, according to WCAX. The prison’s “special response team” was called in to end the standoff.
2019
30
Nov
Majority of Prisoners Sign Petition at Nebraska State Penitentiary
Late November, 2019: 780 prisoners at the facility sign a petition addressed to the press, the ombudsman, and the ACLU to protest a range of issues from lockdowns to programming to food quality.
19
Nov
Prisoners attempt to take over unit at Southern State Correctional Facility, Vermont
November 19, 2019: Prisoners at Southern State Correctional Facility, Vermont’s largest prison, allegedly attempted to take over a unit at the prison, according to a Vermont Department of Corrections press release. Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette said in a press release that one prisoner hit a corrections officer in the head with a blunt object while two others attacked another prisoner.
07
Oct
Hunger Strike and Work Stoppage at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Washington
October 7, 2019 – October 12, 2019: Prisoners at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center began a hunger strike and work stoppage on Monday, October 7 in response to numerous grievances with the facility including food issues, compensation for labor, lack of exercise equipment and complaints about outsourced services such as J-Pay and Global Telelink.
13
Sep
Attack on Guards at North Kern State Prison, California
September 13, 2019: After a guard found a prisoner with a contraband cellphone, the prisoner attacked the guard and seven others joined in. The prisoners punched and kicked the guards, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
07
Aug
Attack on Guard at Central Utah Correctional Facility, Utah
August 7, 2019: According to prison officials, two prisoners allegedly conspired to attack a prison guard at the Central Utah Correctional Facility. One prisoner blocked a surveillance camera while another struck the guard multiple times in the face, causing damage to his nose and eye sockets.
31
Jul
Hunger Strike at Scotland Correctional Institution, North Carolina
July 31, 2019-end date unknown: According to the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC), an unknown number of prisoners participated in a hunger strike in protest of arbitrary denial of recreation time and lack of access to notaries for legal work.
17
Jul
Attack on Guards at Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility
July 17, 2019: According to prison authorities, five prisoners attacked two guards during a nurse visit at Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility. The attack continued until another guard fired “less lethal shotgun and pepper ball grenades.”
04
Jul
Hunger Strike at SCI-Fayette, Pennsylvania
July 4, 2019-end date unknown: According to the Pennsylvania-based prisoner rights advocacy group the Human Rights Coalition, 16 prisoners went on hunger strike to protest a variety of conditions including “repeated physical abuse from guards, sexual harassment, extensive use of pepper spray, theft of mail/legal documents, and restriction of access to basic goods such as toilet paper, toothbrush/paste, yard time, shower time, and clean clothes.”
27
Jun
Food Strike at California State Prison, Corcoran
June 27, 2019-ongoing: At least half of the prisoners in the 3C unit of the California State Prison, Corcoran began a food strike on June 27 in protest of a change in prison policy that would take kitchen jobs away from general population and give them to prisoners in protective custody, according to multiple sources. Prisoners are refusing state-issued “trays” but are instead eating bag lunches provided by the prison.
