Inmate Food Strikes: An Analysis of Food Strikes in Federal Prison System Facilities for the Period October 1987 - March 1989

• NCJ Number: 128234
• Author(s): L Karacki
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 50 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report examines the 14 inmate food strikes (12 actual and 2 aborted) which took place in Federal Bureau of Prisons' facilities during the 18-month period from October 1987 through March 1989 and discusses nine findings from the data collected.

Abstract

The nine findings about the inmate food strikes in BOP facilities from the data collected are all related to collective inmate resistance. Compared to the period 1970-1973, there has been a decrease in work stoppages while food strikes have increased recently. The food strikes which occur are typically non-violent in nature, usually at least initially involve a large segment of the inmate population and last from one to nine meals. Staff generally have little advance warning of impending food strikes. The indication is that plans for food strikes typically are developed on short notice by a small core of inmates, and word is spread to the rest of the population shortly before their scheduled start. Several food strikes were intended to coincide with the BOP Director's visit to the facility. Inmate complaints tend to cover the full gamut of institutional programs and operations. The perception of administrative staff is that each food strike is more or less unique and requires an administrative response tailored to that situation. When the administrative response to the 14 food strikes is examined in detail, in every case similar steps are followed. The procedure starts with steps taken to identify inmate complaints, staff discuss issues with inmate representatives, inmate leaders are locked up, inmate leaders are immediately transferred, the inmate commissary is closed, the institution is placed on lock-down status or on prolonged recall, or the institution emergency response team is placed on standby status. These are followed by more long-term actions such as program deficiencies identified and corrected or action taken to improve staff attitudes and behavior in dealing with the inmate population. 1 appendix, 4 notes, and 4 tables