but they are now for-profit enterprises! That if nothing else should give folks a good idea what this country and it's "freedom" are about.

Does anybody think that the rate of incarceration in this country will go DOWN when there's money to be made?

US prisons are brazenly inhumane. And not too many people care.

The issue is never raised in mainstream politics. For me this ought to be a top issue.

I get the impression that these kinds of incidents go on all the time but go largely unreported.

There was a big hunger strike recently in California (Pelican Bay). As conditions get worse I would guess we will hear about hunger strikes and other prisoners actions more often. Obviously I agree with you guys about private prisons.

we worked together at a part-time job on the weekends. That was when I learned a lot about prisons - the violence inside really bothered him. Our society seems to think someone who is in prison deserves whatever abuse that happens when they are there. No protection of civil rights or even expectation of humane behavior exists. I find it very troubling.

This is one of the things that we tried to combat in the article. Yep, some people because of their actions must be sequestered away from general society, but that doesn't mean anything goes as to their treatment. Most if not all of these guys have families and with the mandatory sentencing AND the proclivity of the ruling class to make ANY dissent into a criminal activity, they COULD easily be any of us.

Especially when half the people in prison are probably there for stupid reasons or trumped up charges.

I seriously doubt whether all the harsh treatment really prevents crime at all either.

which really wasn't set up as an article so much as a statement of support from Worker's Power, we found several examples of hunger strikes, nationally and internationally. The biggest was by Palestinian prisoners in the Isreali prison camps. Also not only Pelican Bay, but there was also a hunger strike in Georgia (USA).

As to the mistreatment, there are some stories of guards breaking fingers of inmates and other physical torture tecniques, along with the conditions the strikers were protesting.

This could be a radicalizing and uniting action though. As one of the leaders of this strike said (paraphrasing), they're not black, white, and Latino gangs anymore. At least not primarily. They are the oppressed and are identifying as such.

Found this blog last night, http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/ It has some good links and info. I think the Red Onion hunger strike is over by now, I read that in the Washingon Post online, but who knows. I figure this stuff is going on all the time and I don't hear about it.

I don't know much about the Worker's Power site. But good on any site that brings attention to this issue.

“While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free”.
- Eugene Debs

and do some writing for. Check it out limpy. There's an international site also. There should be a link to that and some links to the action programme, theoretical basis, etc.