Several inmates in the Secure Housing Unit(SHU) at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility are initiating a hunger strike in protest of their already starvation-level meal portions, their lack of access to basic necessities like adequate clothing, and access to commissary items . Food portions are extremely small, imagine a high school lunch tray where the section for your main course isn’t even half full. The food they receive is already lacking in nutrition and comes in boxes labelled “not for human consumption.” Food services in the IDOC are managed by the private corporation Aramark, and food served to inmates lacks basic nutritional value and is often served rotten. To make matters worse, Corrections Officers are known to contaminate food with saliva and feces.
The SHU is kept extremely cold in order to limit inmates activity and keep them in their beds. Their bodies burn calories to keep warm that can’t even be replaced by the meager meals they are given.
Wabash’s Valley’s Secure Housing Unit is the end of the line for prisoners facing abuse by the IDOC. It is the most extreme form of isolation, sensory deprivation, mental and physical torture that the prison system can offer. Some inmates are kept under 24/7 video and audio surveillance. They are unable to order items from commissary and must subsist on the crumbs they are given. The SHU has a notorious history of unspeakable abuse against inmates. In the 1990’s its commander James Basinger oversaw a cabal of sadisitc guards that engaged in daily torture and even murder of the inmates in their custody. Today, James Basinger is the Deputy Commissioner of the IDOC, extending his techniques throughout the whole system.
The inmates now attempting to resist are putting themselves in extreme danger in order to have their voices heard. It is up to outside supporters to put the spotlight on the strike. Wabash Valley is content to let its inmates starve as long as they believe no one is paying attention.
Pledge to make calls to Warden Richard Brown, IDOC Commissioner Robert Carter, and governor Eric Holcomb.
Wabash Valley Warden Richard Brown | (812) 398-5050
Commissioner Robert Carter | (317) 232-5711
Governor Eric Holcomb | (317) 232-4567
Sample Script: “I am calling to voice concern about the treatment of inmates at the Secure Housing Unit at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. Inmates on the SHU are currently on hunger strike to protest