The inmate who started a hunger strike at Hamilton’s Barton Street jail this week said staffing issues and a broken system are behind deteriorating conditions at the detention centre.
“It’s sickening … lives are at stake,” Jesse Bull told CBC Hamilton in a phone interview Thursday.
The strike started Wednesday morning amid what inmates say are constant lockdowns, a lack of outdoor time and the fear they may lose access to specialty TV channels.
The maximum-security jail’s official name is the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre.
Cedar Hopperton, a volunteer with the Barton Prisoner Solidarity Project, said Thursday the number of inmates striking is now roughly 180.
‘No extra guards at
