COAL TOWNSHIP - A county inmate said in a recent letter to The News-Item that a "peaceful" hunger strike is being planned next week at SCI-Coal Township to protest what he claims is unfair treatment.
A letter dated two days later from a state prisoner said those inmates are already on a hunger strike.
County warden Bruce Kovach declined comment Wednesday when contacted about the count inmate's letter. SCI-Coal Township Superintendent's Assistant Trisha Kelley said she wasn't aware of a hunger strike being conducted at the prison.
County inmates have been housed in a section of the state correctional institution since a Jan. 14 fire heavily damaged the 139-year-old jail in Sunbury, and they've been vocal about claims of a poor transition to services and treatment to which they were accustomed.
In his July 28 letter, county inmate Michael McGinley claims 27 prisoners plan to conduct a hunger strike Aug. 15 over issues that include a lack of exercise equipment and access to the law library, limited religious services and guards spitting chewing tobacco in trash cans and on floors.
He said the alleged complaints have been brought to Kovach's attention, but have not been resolved.
"Inmates are looking for rehabilitation to better their lives when it's time to rejoin their community, but they aren't being given that opportunity," McGinley wrote in the letter.
Other allegations include that general population inmates are being housed with prisoners in restrictive housing, mental health inmates are making excessive noise throughout the day and that correctional officers using smokeless tobacco products while on duty.
In his letter, dated July 30, Billy Joe Metcalf, a state inmate, complained about inmates being "treated unfairly."
"Everyone's reasons are pretty much the same," he wrote. "We are sick of being lied to and being treated unfairly. We have all been told that we are being transferred to different jails for different reasons. We have been waiting two months, four months, six months, 10 months and a year to be transferred. This is the DOC's (Department of Corrections) and SCI-Coal Township's way of grinding people up and making them suffer."
Metcalf claims inmates have abided by prison policies, but their concerns still have not been properly addressed by prison administrators.
In response to Metcalf's allegations, Kelley said, "I can't discuss inmate cases, but the DOC has policies in place to address all issues, including inmate hunger strikes."
She explained an inmate must miss or refuse to eat meals for nine consecutive days for it to be considered a hunger strike. When a hunger strike occurs, she said inmates are provided counseling by employees, including medical staff, and are visited by prison personnel daily.