Waupun Inmates Refuse Food To Protest Solitary Confinement

Several inmates at the Waupun Correctional Institution are reportedly on a hunger strike to protest what they call the state Department of Correction’s inhumane use of solitary confinement.

As of Friday, at least seven inmates at Waupun were refusing food. The exact number is hard to tell, according to Bernie Gonzalez with the social justice group SOPHIA, because inmates in solitary confinement only get one 15-minute phone call each week.

Gonzalez said prison officials can place an inmate in solitary, or so-called “administrative” confinement for unclear reasons. He said the strikers want better prison mental health care and more oversight over the use of solitary.

“More transparency with regards to the Department of Corrections putting inmates in solitary confinement,” said Gonzalez. “It is very vague. They can pretty much put anybody in solitary or “administrative” confinement, anybody they want or feel like.”

Inmates can be held in solitary for 23 hours a day, Gonzalez said. They get one hour in a room with no toilet which he says, “most of the time is filled with feces.”

In a written statement, the Department of Corrections said it is monitoring the situation and the health of inmates who are refusing to eat.