A hunger strike at Cheshire Correctional Institution has been gaining supporters as the strikers go into their third week of protest against what they say are frequent lockdowns, poor food and inadequate medical care. 

The strike, which began with nine people on July 7, has caught the attention of prison reform advocates, who protested outside Cheshire CI on Wednesday evening. According to the Department of Correction, 15 people were striking as of Tuesday, although some of the incarcerated strikers and advocates say the number is over 20. 

Department of Correction officials said they have been monitoring the hunger strike as it has gone on. Andrius Banevicius, spokesperson for the department, said officials met with the strikers not long after the strike began and that they “continue to meet with the individuals on a regular basis” to discuss their concerns. 

According to Banevicius, five of the original seven strikers have gone back to eating, although others have joined since. 

But Jose Ramos, one of the original members of the hunger strike, said during a phone call with the protestors on Wednesday that a group of the people on hunger strike were brought into the captain’s office on the first day of the strike. He said they were told that the captains did not have the authority to make changes in the facility, and that the inmates would have to speak to the warden or the commissioner. He said he had not spoken to anyone in the Department of Correction since then about the strikers’ demands.  

Ramos also described what he considered retaliation after the strike began, including being separated from the other hunger strikers (he said he was moved to three different units within a week’s time) and that his unit underwent a shakedown by correction officers. 

Shyion Singleton, the sister of Rogeau Collins, one of the original hunger strikers, told CT Mirror that her brother was placed in restrictive housing the day after the strike and remained there for two weeks. She said she believed this was in retaliation both for the hunger strike and for a call she made to the Department of Correction the day before. 

“They are just treating the inmates that are on the hunger strike like crap,” she said. 

Singleton said she spoke to her brother and urged him to break his fast, saying she was concerned about his health. She said he is now on a list of incarcerated individuals waiting to be transferred to another prison. 

On July 26, a group of organizations including Stop Solitary CT, New Britain Racial Justice Coalition, Brothers and Sisters in Action, the Guided By Purpose Initiative and a professor from Yale Law School wrote a letter to Department of Correction Commissioner Angel Quiros asking for updates on the condition of the strikers and requesting that the protestors not face retaliation for their actions. 

Banevicius told CT Mirror that all the strikers are being monitored by medical staff and that none have been placed in solitary confinement. He said the department does not “tolerate or engage” in retaliation toward protestors but said the strikers were “expected to adhere to the established rules and regulations designed to ensure the safety and well-being of all individuals, including staff and the incarcerated population.”

“The DOC is working to address the grievances of the protesters in a constructive manner while maintaining a safe, secure and orderly environment,” Banevicius said. 

Chief among the reasons claimed for the strike are frequent facility lockdowns, which some say are in violation of the Protect Act, a 2022 law that requires incarcerated individuals to have at least five hours of out-of-cell time each day. 

DeVaughn Ward, the Correction Ombuds, told CT Mirror that Cheshire was on some kind of lockdown five of the seven days of the first week of July. Rashid Sellers, one of the people on the hunger strike, told CT Mirror that the facilities were on a “modified lockdown” from July 3 through July 6, when they received only an hour of recreation in the morning and an hour in the evening. 

The facility was on a modified lockdown for part of the day July 2 and July 3 for the wake and funeral of a corrections officer.

Joseph McCarley, a correction officer at Cheshire and representative of the local officer’s union, said the lockdowns are the result of severe staffing shortages combined with drug-related incidents, known as “code whites.” McCarley said the facility has a large amount of people out on worker’s compensation, as well as officers on administrative leave, sick leave or taking vacation time. He said staff members are pulling double shifts nearly every day or being mandated to work consecutive days.

“ I think staff are doing their best to come to work,” he said. “It’s just, statistically, we have burnout.” 

Banevicius said the department is still trying to recruit new officers. He said that 90 newly hired corrections officers began working in the facilities earlier this month and that an additional 150 will start their first day of training on Aug. 8. 

McCarley denied emphatically that corrections officers were retaliating against incarcerated individuals who were striking. He said the shakedowns were the result of the high amount of drugs present in certain blocks in the facility and the high number of medical emergencies related to drugs. He added that if correction officers have to accompany incarcerated individuals to the hospital because of a medical emergency, that can also leave them short-staffed, causing a lockdown.  

Banevicius said that keeping drugs and contraband from coming into the prisons was “an ongoing battle for correctional professionals.” He said the department “continually reviews its policies, procedures and training methods as part of its commitment to ensure safe facilities.” 

McCarley said he felt hunger strikes were “a form of self-harm” and that the strikers should be transferred to a facility with an infirmary so that they can be monitored more closely for health risks. 

According to McCarley, the 2022 Protect Act, because of its out-of-cell time requirements, has made it more difficult for correction officers to conduct systematic shakedowns and locate contraband. Barbara Fair, the executive director of Stop Solitary and one of the leading authors of the Protect Act, disagreed, saying that the Protect Act does not prevent shakedowns. And she said lockdowns continue to happen at facilities at around the same rate that they did before the law was passed. 

Banevicius told CT Mirror in an email that from July 7 through July 28, there were six full lockdowns, 12 “modified lockdowns” where social visits were still allowed, and five modified lockdowns where visits were not allowed. 

He noted that incarcerated individuals are still able to go to programs and attend medical appointments during modified lockdowns and can often have visits as well.

But several incarcerated individuals complained to CT Mirror about visits being canceled. 

“My family are all from NY and they take the time out [of their] day to drive 3 hours to come and see me. The jail that I’m currently in constantly has been going on lock down without notifying our families, so when my loved ones get here, they have to turn around and go back home without any justifications whatsoever,” said Solomon Taylor, who joined the strike on July 24. 

“Families come up here and are turned around because the amount of time used to clear the codes. It cut in to our visit time. Or most times, they’ll just lock us down and we’ll be kept from seeing our visitor,” said Jarviyan Williams, who joined the strike about a week ago. He added that for people who receive virtual visits because of physical disabilities or long-distance family members, the computers often have technical difficulties, forcing them to reschedule, which can take 1-3 weeks. 

Williams said the lockdowns also often mean the loss of recreational time or showers. 

David Shavers said he joined the strike because of the “obsessive lockdowns” and the fact that he hadn’t been able to access the library to do legal work for months. He also said he felt he’d been treated unfairly by prison staff. 

A handful of advocates, several of whom were formerly incarcerated, protested outside the prison on Wednesday evening in support of the people on strike. Several told CT Mirror that the demands of the strikers echoed their own experiences. 

Shakur Collins, who was released from the Department of Correction in December 2024 after nine years in Cheshire, said he remembers repeated lockdowns at the facility, said that the medical staff were overwhelmed and referred to the kitchen as “deplorable” — infested with rats and cockroaches. (Banevicius said that a pest control specialist has been coming to the facility twice weekly “for quite some time.”) 

J. Sheim Perry, co-founder of the organization Guided By Purpose Initiative, Inc., who was released about three years ago after nearly 30 years incarcerated, including multiple stints in Cheshire, said the inmates were asking for basic things, like recreational time, hot food and medical attention. He also said the facilities didn’t have access to updated legal material, which makes it difficult for incarcerated individuals who are trying to argue their case in court. 

Perry told CT Mirror he remembers being on a hunger strike himself at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institute 15 years ago. 

“Nothing has changed when it comes down to how inmates are being cared for, how they’re being fed, how the recreation is being run,” said Perry.