Nearly 20 people, including university students, used drums, signs and a microphone to support a hunger strike Thursday afternoon at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester.

The protest was the second at Menard, a maximum-security state prison for adult males, which previously hosted one for the same cause Jan. 17. Inmates report they are on a hunger strike because they have not received due process and hope to improve living conditions.

Nick Smaligo, a graduate student in philosophy from Carbondale, said the hunger strike began Jan. 15, and estimated nearly 25 prisoners initially participated.

Several prisoners were transferred to Menard after Gov. Pat Quinn ordered the closing of Tamms Correctional Center because of budget cuts.

Smaligo said the prisoners in Menard are on a hunger strike because they are held in solitary confinement without due process.

“They are not being given any justification for why they are being held there and they are not given any procedure for how they can get out,” Smaligo said. “The U.S. Supreme Court requires that before inmates are placed in high maximum-security, they be provided notice, hearing, written reasons, a statement of what they can do to move to a lower security level and the right to appeal.”

Tom Shaer, director of communications for the Illinois Department of Corrections, said administrative detention is never given without notice or hearing by a special committee who reviews administrative detention status.

After the approval, a 90-day review recommendation of the committee must be accepted, modified or rejected by the warden of the prison.

Shaer said the number 25 is an exaggeration, and 14 prisoners originally participated in the “so-called hunger strike.”

An emailed report on Friday from Shaer said, “During the first three weeks of this so-called hunger strike, Menard went from 14 ‘strikers’ down to eight, an average reduction of two (2) per week… As of dinner on 2/12/14, there was one.”

The report states during the “so-called hunger strike,” there has been a frequent refusal from prisoners to submit urine or blood samples as well as being weighed.

Shaer said this is not a hunger strike, but rather a protest carried out by significantly reducing one’s calorie intake to “strict diet” levels, not “malnutrition” levels.

According to a prisoner in a letter dated Jan. 28, “Today’s day 14 and these are trying times for all of us prisoners. There are about a dozen prisoners still on strike and feeling the effects. I’ve lost 20 pounds since Jan. 15!”

The letter was addressed to authors and civil rights activists Staughton and Alice Lynd. Staughton Lynd said there is no way for prisoners to get their information out promptly.

“The place has very restrictive practice with regard to outgoing mail,” he said. “We received three letters (Friday) morning that were all dated February 6, which is the date that the prisoners — or some of them — went to a fast without liquid as well as without food and obviously people survive in that condition only for a few days.”

Shaer said as of Feb. 7, some inmates declared a no-water strike, and were monitored in the Health Care Unit. He said there have been no health concerns and no force-feeding of food or water.

Due-process concerns are the main reason for the hunger strike, but inmates have expressed other concerns as well. These include a lack of educational programming, no mental-health screenings and raised concern of the food containing low-calorie intake to make prisoners lose weight.

Shaer said the complaint of no education programs is false, as the IDOC spends $48 million a year on programs and services. He said many classes have a backlog and priority is tied to an inmate’s date of release.

He said mental-health assessments occur regularly and mental staff are available out-of-schedule to inmates exhibiting a need, and the food follows State of Illinois and federal guidelines.

Prisoners have also expressed their feelings toward the cells being cold and not being allowed to purchase cotton blankets.

Shaer said the temperatures are monitored and recorded every hour and none have gone below between 65 and 75 degrees in any unit. He said normal winter blankets are issued in every cell.

He said a significant number of the inmates voluntarily go to administration detention for their own safety.

“An example would be someone who had an affiliation with a street gang when he was on the outside, who is now incarcerated and who has been targeted for violence usually by a rival street gang,” Shaer said.

Shaer said a handful of inmates are in administrative detention not by their own choice but are gang leaders posing a threat of continued violent activities.

“Administrative detention is designed to remove probable problems from the general inmate population, which is why we don’t have an issue with ongoing violence or gang activities in prisons,” he said.

Gabe Garcia, a senior studying geography and environmental resources from Chicago, said the protesting group came to show people from the outside world have not forgotten about the inmates. He said it was magical when the prisoners yelled back things such as “thank you” and “due process.”

“It was almost like a wormhole,” he said. “That’s exactly why the walls are there, so we cannot have interaction with those people, but we did anyways.”

The evening after the protest, professor, activist and author Angela Davis spoke at 7 p.m. at Shryock Auditorium and said the prison system is a new form of slavery. She said the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the U.S. except in prisons.

According to a prisoner in a letter dated Jan. 28, “I do not know who those supporters were, but if you can find out, please let them know we deeply appreciate their support. Seeing them protest on our behalf was definitely a confidence booster. The psychological effect on the prisoners is beyond explanation.”

“The only way the prison industrial complex will end is if there is a social movement that challenges the status quo,” Smaligo said. “And the only way that social movement will be built is if students and community members start organizing demonstrations for themselves.”

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], @lukenozicka, or 536-3311 ext. 282.