By LUCAS ALAN DIETSCHE
Since Aug. 15, incarcerated prisoner Cesar De Leon has been on hunger strike, in protest against his long-term solitary confinement. De Leon has recently been moved into several different segregation units around Wisconsin for reasons unknown. He has been in total segregation for eight years with little chance of being put into the general prison population or released.
Since 2016, DeLeon has either individually or collectively organized hunger strikes against mind control, segregation, and other abusive policies of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WIDOC). In an earlier hunger strike, in 2016, visitors said that DeLeon had become delirious and seriously underweight, as well as displaying signs of physical abuse. DeLeon was in non-compliance with guards who placed him in handcuffs and force-fed him through the nose and into the throat.
DeLeon recently called for Democratic Governor Tony Evers to meet with representatives of his support campaign and family. When Evers ran for Wisconsin governor, he promised to end the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, to reduce the state’s prison population by 50 percent, and to revoke the policy of re-imprisoning people for breaking probation rules. Last year, some 45,000 people had their probation revoked in Wisconsin; over a third of the new detentions were for breaking rules, such as failure to show up for inspections by agents, failure to give urine or blood samples, or changing jobs or addresses without permission. So far, Evers has not only failed to deliver promises but has expanded youth detention facilities.
Cesar has written to Socialist Resurgence members describing the callousness or indifference of the prison guards and the WIDOC overall. He has noted horrendous conditions of being force-fed and going without water for many days. Cesar calls himself a revolutionary and notes how white supremacy is connected with imperialism and American gulags.
Socialist Resurgence has had connections with Cesar in many ways, including with Samizdat Socialist Prisoners Project and the Cesar DeLeon Solidarity Network—a project of Save the Kids from Incarceration. Solidarity support has included phone zaps, letters of solidarity, and possible pickets.
Please check https://wisconsinprisonvoices.org/actions/support-cesar-de-leon-hunger-strike-against-solitary-confinement/ and https://www.facebook.com/Cesar-Deleon-Solidarity-Network-Project-of-Save-the-Kids-from-Incarceration-470683787099266/?modal=admin_todo_tour for updates.
Photo: Socialist Resurgence.