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Imagine living in a small windowless 8 by 10 foot room with little to no human contact. These are the prison cells that inmates are forced to live in for months or even years on end.

Some inmates in California state prisons are now on a hunger strike to protest living conditions at the Pelican Bay State and other facilities.

Dolores Canales is the mother of a prisoner at Pelican Bay.

“What’s heartbreaking is never being able to hug him. The only time he’s ever making eye contact is when he gets a visit. Some of these men go long periods of time without getting a visit.”

Canales’ son John is taking part in the hunger strike and she worries about his health.

“This could be very serious where they do start dying or becoming seriously ill but they feel that it’s their only alternative. It’s their only hope.”

Dorsey Nunn is the Executive Director of the Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.

“When you start holding people in- we think that constitutes torture when you start holding people for years, that is a real problem in the state of California.”

This is not the first time prisoners have protested their solitary confinement. Last July there was a 20-day hunger strike at Pelican Bay. It ended when the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agreed to negotiate.

But many prisoners say they did not notice any significant changes which triggered the current hunger strike.

“It’s unequivocally unacceptable for this to be going on in any city or state in the world and it’s happening in the state of California- this torture needs to be ended.”

Prisoners and their supporters are hoping that this time around the state will make improvements.