Four alleged members of rival gangs in the California prison system launched a hunger strike from solitary confinement that at one point in 2013 comprised 32,000 inmates - black, white and Latino - from 33 prisons, it has been revealed. The coordinated 59-day hunger-strike by opposing, racially aligned gangs resulted in a second legislative hearing into SHU conditions in Sacramento in February during which the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation unveiled a package of new regulations. From the Pelican Bay  State Prison's Security Housing Unit (SHU), Todd Ashker, allegedly a senior member of the Aryan Brotherhood (an affiliation he denies), Sitawa Jamaa, alleged minister of education for the Black Guerilla Family, Arturo Castellanos, allegedly a leader in the Mexican Mafia and Antonio Guillen, allegely one of three generals of Nuestra Familia spent years shouting through cell walls to form a political alliance and organize the strike.
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A hunger strike in California prisons took place last year
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It was organized by four alleged leaders from rival racially aligned gangs from the Pelican Bay State Prison's SHU
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The men were in solitary confinement at the facility, which houses 'the worst of the worst'
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The unlikely allies were protesting conditions in confinement, including that a gang member may be kept in isolation indefinitely, with a review only once every six years
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They spent years orchestrating the strike in snatched conversations, shouting through walls and down drainpipes and passing messages through lawyers
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They communicated their plan to other prisoners though letters to activist groups and friends and family members
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At its beginning, 30,000 prisoners took part in the strike
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By day 40, 69 inmates remained on strike and the state won permission to force-feed them
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The strike ended on day 59, when the inmates won a promise of a special hearing on conditions in the SHU
Arturo Castellanos
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At the hearing in February, officials agreed that the @placeholder needs to change.