Hundreds of prisoners may go on mass hunger strike if Texas does not stop its “harsh solitary confinement practices,” according to The Texas Tribune.
Some prisoners have argued that they should not be confined to isolation from their peers “solely because officials identified them as prison gang members, even if they haven’t had any behavioral issues in lockup,” according to The Texas Tribune.
“It’s unclear how many prisoners will participate in the hunger strike, but activist Brittany Robertson estimated Friday that more than 300 men held in solitary confinement in more than a dozen prisons across Texas had signed on to the protest,” the Tribune reported.
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However, Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) spokesperson Amanda Hernandez told Fox News Digital that solitary confinement “accounts for less than 3% of the inmate population” within the prison system.
“It is used judiciously,” she added explaining that it is mostly “inmates who are confirmed members of the most organized and dangerous prisons gangs, inmates who are escape risks, and inmates who committed assaults or multiple other serious disciplinary offenses” that are chosen for “security detention,” another term for solitary.

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