JANUARY 11 -HUNGER STRIKE REPORT 
LONG TIME, NO SEE

On my way to a visit with my mama and twin brother, I saw Sgt. Brown. He hung his head, turned away from me, then said “shit!” He didn’t like that I was out my cage. Maybe it was that and the fact that I was actually having a visit. Anyway, I smiled and said, “What’s wrong Brown?”
“Blanton, we bet’ not have any problems out of you today.” Brown said.
“Problems?” I said. “I don’t know what chya talking about,” as I walked through the breezeway, on to visitation.

I wasn’t minutes into my visit when Warden Hirch walked behind my mama and brother. As he looked over to me and waved like a politician would to his constituents, I told my family, “Look, that’s Warden Hirch; the reason why our conditions are the way they are; the one with the power to change them. Tell him to come here right quick.”

My brother asked the Warden to come over, and I told him to hand the warden his phone while Mama listened on hers. I said to the warden, “I know you’re a busy man, but when you get a chance, there’s a group of hunger-strikers: Woods, Turner, Dickson and myself to name a few, not to mention other brothers from the DRIVE Movement you’re already familiar with like Gonzales, Will and Foster, who have legitimate concerns only you can rectify.”

“Yall can’t handcuff me!” Warden Hirch interrupted. “Just because yall hunger strike doesn’t mean I will talk to yall.” Then he handed the phone back to my brother, walking off before I could explain to him that what he just said wasn’t the case at all. In fact, it’s more so the other way around. We protest because we are being ignored.

After the lovely visit with my family, and Warden Hirch’s words, which were reminiscent of the tirade he went on when comrade Foster and I spoke to him about the abhorrent conditions March 12th of last year (see Warden Hirch letter) as I was being escorted back to my assigned pod, I sat down in the hallway. When Sgt. Brown came, looked at me once before looking away with one hand on his hip and the other on the wall, I thought he would burst into a violent rage.

I told Brown the usual. The only thing he has control over is how he and the officers under him treat us. But he has no control over these sensory depriving conditions. I asked to speak to Warden Hirch and he refused to call him, though he was only making a guest appearance in visitation. When I asked to speak to Captain Dickens, he suddenly appeared but walked on by ignoring me when I called him. He acted as if I was the floor he was walking on.

My protest statement for the day could be summarized: continued indifference, continued resistance. DRIVE!

Love and solidarity
From the trenches
Comrade
Reginal “Omari Huduma” Blanton