read a supplemental article on Canvas, and read/watch the content at the hyperlinks provided in this document.
From July to September of 2013, 30,000 prisoners in California participated in a 2-month long hunger strike in order to raise awareness about issues facing inmates in the CA prison system. You should watch the following video to familiarize yourself with this topic
In late August 2013, just weeks before the hunger strike ended, a California judge gave prison officials the authority to force feed some of the prisoners on hunger strike.
On Canvas I have placed a reading by Joel Greenberg regarding the constitutional protection of hunger strikes.
- What did you learn about the hunger strike from the video that you viewed? What were the main issues surrounding this hunger strike?
- Summarize the article that you read regarding the CA judge’s approval of force-feeding hunger strike participants.
- The Greenberg article basically outlines several arguments. I would like you to summarize what the author states in terms of:
- The Constitutional protection of a hunger strike
- Governmental interests in preventing hunger strikes
- Societal interests in hunger strikes
- Overall, what is your opinion on this topic? Should hunger strikes be considered “protected speech” under the 1st Amendment? Should the government be able force-feed inmates who refuse to eat? If so, at what point in a hunger strike should this take place?
