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As Utah State Prison officials moved Tuesday to discipline inmates in a hunger strike, some inmates began covering their cell door windows with paper and damaging their cells.
In a press statement Tuesday night, prison spokeswoman Brooke Adams wrote that five inmates were transferred to the prison's highest-security unit after some refused to submit to handcuffs, used paper to prevent anyone from seeing through the cell door windows, and broke sprinklers in their cells, causing flooding. Two of the inmates also began fighting in their cell, Adams said.
The inmates' actions came as corrections officers began meeting with inmates one-on-one to discuss privilege reductions in response to a hunger strike 42 inmates began Friday to protest conditions at the prison. Some inmates may lose TV access, have personal snacks removed from their cells and face limits on how much they may spend at the commissary, Adams said.
"Many of the inmates had stockpiled commissary food prior to engaging in the hunger strike and are consuming those items," Adams wrote.
Four of the protesting inmates accepted breakfast trays, and two who suffer from health conditions accepted nutritional drinks.
Most of the inmates involved in the hunger strike are refusing health checks.
The striking inmates all are maximum-security inmates and documented gang members, living in the Uinta 2 unit, according to the Utah Department of Corrections. They have said they want gang leaders moved to a different part of the prison, more time outside of their cells and more services for education and rehabilitation.
The ACLU of Utah has said about 30 inmates in Uinta 2 have written complaints of "squalid living conditions" and prolonged confinement, claiming some are kept in their cells for 47 of every 48 hours. Inmates also have said their meals are not adequate.
Prison officials say they have been meeting with the ACLU and other advocacy groups and are considering changes they said would give inmates more out-of-cell time and access to enrichment services.
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