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| Death Row inmates end hunger strike |
| By Indianapolis Star |
| Published: 04/06/2004 |
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Death Row inmates ended an 18-day hunger strike yesterday, bringing at least a temporary halt to protests against conditions at the maximum-security prison near Westville, Ind. Three prisoners still were refusing food brought to them, but had commissary items in their cells, said Pam Pattison, spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Correction. Some of the inmates who participated in the hunger strike have indicated that they have lost as much as 15 pounds and have "dangerously" low heart pulse rates, said Steve Schutte, an attorney for the state public defender's office. A healthy person can go up to 60 days without food. However, severe health problems, including dementia and hallucinations, can occur after three weeks. Medical staff checking on the prisoners reported no major health problems, Pattison said. She suggested that some of them survived on snack foods they purchased from the prison commissary. At least a dozen inmates took part in the hunger strike, which started March 17, to protest being housed in the Maximum Control Facility. Their relatives and friends joined death penalty opponents last week in a daylong demonstration outside of the Department of Correction office in downtown Indianapolis. They claim the prisoners endure inhumane conditions, including feces in the shower and filthy cells infested with insects. A State Health Department report last year substantiated some of the accusations. Prisoners also are subjected to rules usually reserved for troublesome inmates and cannot have contact visits with relatives, Schutte said. Corrections officials said they have addressed the sanitation issues, implemented cable television and may loosen some restrictions. The Maximum Control Facility in Westville opened in 1991 to hold the state's most disruptive prisoners. The 203 inmates housed there are isolated from one another and kept in solitary confinement. |
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