California prisoners prepare for another hunger strike to protest persistently deplorable conditions

Sitawa Jamaa is among the thousands of California inmates who, two years ago this summer, took part in the largest prison hunger strike in US history to protest harsh conditions and their invisibility to those outside prison walls.

Now, Jamaa and other prisoners are about to launch another hunger strike to highlight the system's unfulfilled promises and the persistence of inhumane conditions.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) counted 6,000 prisoners throughout the state who refused food over several weeks in July 2011. During a follow-up strike that September, the number of prisoners missing meals swelled to 12,000, according to the federal receiver who was appointed by the courts to oversee reforms in the system. At least one inmate starved to death.

As one of four inmates who call themselves the Short Corridor Collective, Jamaa was a key organizer of the hunger strike. The group of inmates drafted a list of core demands calling for the strike when they weren't met.

California prisons showdown: inmates' lawyers seek contempt finding against governor

Gov. Jerry Brown and his top state prison official are about to find out how mad they've made the three federal judges overseeing California's overcrowded prison system.

In court papers filed Wednesday, lawyers for prison inmates asked the special three-judge panel to find Brown and Jeffrey Beard, the state's corrections chief, in contempt for failing to comply with orders requiring the administration to meet a Dec. 31 deadline for reducing the prison population.

Citing "willful defiance" by the governor and his staff, the inmates' lawyers argue the federal court must take strong action to force the state to shed another 10,000 inmates to cut the prison population to about 110,000 at the end of this year.

Calif. gov. bristles at releasing more prisoners

California Governor Jerry Brown is asking the Supreme Court to intervene in a battle over the state's prison population.

A federal court has ruled the state's prison system is over-crowded, and it's ordered thousands of prisoners to be released by the end of the year.

Over the years, California has sent far more criminals to state prisons than it has room for.

California's prisons are built to accommodate 80,000 prisoners, but there are almost 120,000.