From Attica to Pelican Bay: A Brief History of Prison Rebellion

Sterling, Colorado (2003)
Prison officials locked down the Sterling Correctional Facility after dozens of inmate cooks went on strike to protest wage cuts. Prisoners’ pay was dropped from $2 to 60 cents a day. Multiple shifts of cooks refused to leave their cells, halting meal preparation for a number of days. Strikers were placed in administrative segregation, lost earned release time, and were transferred to higher security prisons. Officials refused to negotiate with the inmates over pay and the prison remained on lockdown until the inmates went back to work. They received peanut butter sandwiches and other cold food for meals until the things returned to normal.

Georgia (2010-2011)
It’s a felony in the state of Georgia for an inmate to have a cell phone, but this didn’t stop the inmates from organizing a statewide prison protest via text message on phones believed to have been procured through guards.  Thousands of Georgia prisoners across the state refused to work, stopped all other activities and locked down in their cells in a peaceful protest for human rights. Set forth demands that included living work wages, educational opportunities, decent health care, nutritional meals, access to families, vocational and self-improvement opportunities, end to cruel and unusual punishments, decent living conditions and just parole decisions. The protesting inmates remained non-violent, despite the Warden’s orders that heat and hot water be turned off, and the DOC’s violent attempts to force the men back to work. Some men were ripped from their cells, resulting in a number of broken ribs, and one inmate was beaten beyond recognition. The demonstration crossed racial, religious, and gang-affiliation lines. “We have to come together and set aside all differences,” one inmate said.

Pelican Bay, California (2011)
Prisoners in Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit, the isolation wing of the supermax prison, announced a hunger strike to protest the inhumane conditions of their confinement. Word of the strike quickly spread, thanks largely to a network of supporters outside prison walls, and soon correctional facilities across the state were reporting shows of solidarity by their inmates. At its peak, 6,600 prisoners in California were refusing their state-sponsored meals. The strike ended more than three weeks after it began, in exchange for the promise that SHU prisoners would be given all-weather caps, wall calendars, and educational opportunities. More substantially, inmate organizers say the CDCR has agreed to investigate changes to certain policies, including the gang validation and debriefing processes that were mentioned in strikers original demands.