Inmates plan hunger strike to protest solitary confinement

MADISON — Around a half-dozen Wisconsin prison inmates say they plan to go on a hunger strike this week in hopes of forcing the Department of Corrections to do away with long-term solitary confinement.


The International Workers of the World, a labor union, is working with the prisoners to draw attention to the strike.

Ben Turk, a member of the IWW's Milwaukee chapter, said the union has been in touch by mail with six inmates at Waupun Correctional Institution and one at Columbia Correctional Institution. He says all seven are currently in solitary confinement — one of them filed a lawsuit in April alleging he's been in solitary for 25 years — and they plan to begin their strike on Friday, June 10th.

DOC spokesman Tristan Cook didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.