After 10 days, dozens of Texas prisoners remain on hunger strike protesting solitary confinement practices

Texas prisoners in solitary confinement are kept in single-person cells for at least 22 hours a day. (Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune)

Ten days after Texas prisoners around the state began a hunger strike to protest the state’s harsh solitary confinement practices, dozens of men are still refusing food, and some are reportedly losing pounds of weight a day.

Texas prisoners in solitary confinement are kept in single-person cells for at least 22 hours a day. When staffing levels allow — which can be rare — they get out of their cells to shower or exercise alone in caged outdoor areas. Thousands of prisoners are kept in such conditions, and they are typically held in isolation for years.