Texas prisoners launching hunger strike to protest state’s harsh solitary confinement practices

In November, 3,141 Texas prisoners were held in solitary confinement, according to the Department of Criminal Justice. More than 500 of them had been there for at least a decade. (Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune)

Prisoners across Texas are readying themselves to send a dramatic message to prison officials and state lawmakers: We won’t eat until you address the state’s harsh solitary confinement practices.

For about a year, a group of prisoners has been organizing support inside and outside prison walls to push the state to limit which people are kept in solitary confinement and for how long, according to an independent activist working closely with the men.