An incarcerated Black Lives Matter protester is staging hunger strikes to draw attention to his prolonged solitary confinement.
His placement in solitary confinement followed an incident where, according to Regan, Muhammad requested to speak with a supervisor after being forced off the phone so a White inmate could take his place. But instead of a supervisor, Muhammad was Tased, beaten by guards, and subsequently placed in isolation.
“Even after he is on the ground and completely incapacitated because he’s being electrocuted, they continue,” Regan said. “They kick and punch him.”
In May, Muhammad began his first hunger strike. He initiated his latest strike in November after spending more than eight months in solitary confinement. According to Regan, prison regulations mandate that corrections staff involve the medical team for a baseline evaluation within 48 hours of learning about a hunger strike. However, six days into the strike, no medical evaluation had been conducted for Muhammad.
“The way that the DOC is attempting to sort of sneak this under the radar is that they have multiple different segregation designations,” Regan said.
Muhammad’s designation has changed from one segregated housing unit to another, “but he’s literally staying in the same solitary confinement cell,” Regan said.
Regan stated that as a veteran with PTSD, the treatment Muhammad has endured in prison will make his reintegration into society even more challenging.
“He served the country and he already really suffered through one episode of his life that has given him some of the mental health issues that may have contributed to the acts that he’s actually been convicted of,” she said.
“For the racist prison system to intentionally punish him in ways that are going to cause additional mental health impacts and just make it that much harder for him to come out and be a productive and lovely member of our community is the opposite of what the prison systems say they are doing.”
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Source: Black Enterprise
