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From various reports on the ground in Ohio, particularly Solidarity With The Lucasville Prisoners on Hunger Strike:

The prison authorities have provided, in writing, a set of conditions that virtually meets the demands set out by Bomani Shakur in his letter to Warden Bobby, and the victorious protesters have resumed eating!  This follows a large rally yesterday, and an open letter to the Warden signed by nearly 2000 people.

The men had very basic demands, after 17 years of solitary confinement:

1. Full recreation privileges.
2. Full commissary privileges.
3. Full access to Access SecurePac catalog.
4. Semi-contact visits.
5. Access to computer database so that they can assist in the furtherance of their appeals.
The hunger strikers send thanks for your support and state that they couldn’t have won without support from people from around the world.   They add to their statement the following:

This time they were fighting about their conditions of confinement but now they begin the fight for their lives.   They were wrongfully convicted of complicity in 1993 murders in Lucasville prison and have faced retribution because they refused to provide snitch testimony against others who actually committed those murders.  Now, because of Ohio’s (and other states’) application of the death penalty, they still face execution at a future date. Ohio is today exceeded only by Texas in its enthusiasm for applying the death penalty.  We need to take some of this energy that was created around the hunger strike to help these men fight for their lives.

This case brings into question the ability of a prisoner to adequately petition for their own exoneration, especially when held in dungeon-like conditions.   But watch this space for further news on their ongoing campaign.

Related Articles

• Lucasville, Ohio, prison uprising leaders go on hunger strike (redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com)
• Wrongfully-Accused Men Call For End Of Death Penalty (huffingtonpost.com)