Olha Yarynich, Contributing Photographer

Two incarcerated men decided to end their three-week hunger strike Tuesday afternoon after Connecticut’s prison overseer provided them with written agreements to their personal demands. 

Jacky Robinson Jr. and Cornel Myers — who are incarcerated at MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, Connecticut — launched the hunger strike on Sept. 16, demanding improved medical and mental health treatment for prisoners, fewer lockdowns and shakedowns and increased communication between prisoners and the outside world.

Over the past week and a half, the men have met three times with Connecticut’s recently-appointed interim ombudsman, Attorney DeVaughn Ward, who is tasked with providing independent oversight of the Department of Correction. In addition to their broader demands, the men outlined individual requests. These included Robinson’s desire to be transferred to his home state of Ohio and Myers’ hope to be moved to a single cell for his sleep apnea.

On Tuesday afternoon, Ward provided the men with written agreements to only their personal requests. DOC Commissioner Angel Quiros approved Robinson’s transfer to Ohio, which Robinson thinks will be carried out in the next few weeks. Though Myers’ single cell has not yet been confirmed, Ward has requested Myers’ medical records to ensure he qualifies for the cell. 

“I’m excited and just joyful, knowing that I’ll be able to see my dad,” Robinson said. “I haven’t seen him in eight years, so to be able to see him on visits and to get hugs from him [will] feel really good.”

The men agreed to end the hunger strike once prison staff return Robinson’s commissary food purchases, which Robinson gave to MacDougall-Walker staff when he started the strike. He anticipates that staff will return the items by the end of Wednesday.

DOC’s temporary injunction to force-feed Robinson

Before meeting with Ward on Tuesday afternoon, Robinson was preparing for a court hearing that would determine if the DOC had the ability to force-feed him.

On Sept. 26, Judge Amir Shaikh granted the DOC a temporary injunction that permitted them to force-feed Robinson if necessary to prevent permanent physical harm or death, as per the 2009 Lantz v. Coleman ruling. The injunction also authorized the DOC’s “use of reasonable force” if Robinson refused to be force-fed. 

The DOC pointed to Robinson’s Sept. 20 urine test, which found heavy urine ketones due to his body rapidly breaking down fat. The DOC added that Robinson has refused his medications for prediabetes, high blood pressure and dyslipidemia since he was admitted to the MacDougall-Walker infirmary on Sept. 23, which contributed to the injunction’s filing.

Robinson also expressed concern about the heavy urine ketones. However, he said he has not been diagnosed with prediabetes or dyslipidemia and is not prescribed any medications, although a doctor diagnosed him with high blood pressure a decade ago.

The DOC did not respond to the News’ request for comment about discrepancies between its and Robinson’s account.

Shaikh scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to determine whether the injunction would be dismissed or made permanent. Robinson had planned to argue for the injunction’s dismissal.

“I hope that the judge will subpoena my medical records and take a look and see that they filed something that was false, and I hope that we get [the injunction] dismissed,” Robinson told the News on Monday. “All I can do is to stick to the truth and hope for a good outcome.”

An hour before the hearing, Ward visited Robinson and told him his transfer to Ohio had been approved. The men then walked to MacDougall-Walker’s interview room, where they attended the virtual hearing. 

Assistant Attorney General Steve Barry, who filed the DOC’s original complaint, asked to push the hearing back by four weeks. He pointed out that Robinson had begun consuming Ensure, a high-protein nutrition drink, on Oct. 2 and was no longer in danger of permanent physical damage.

Shaikh approved Barry’s request, noting that the DOC could decide whether to move forward with the permanent injunction or dismiss Robinson’s case in the next few weeks, according to Robinson.

Physical toll of the hunger strike

Robinson and Myers launched the hunger strike alongside four fellow prisoners, with a seventh prisoner joining their ranks on Sept. 17. Since Sept. 20, just Robinson and Myers have remained on the hunger strike. 

Robinson said the other five prisoners came off the hunger strike after the DOC threatened to move them to different units. He noted that the men were worried the DOC would eventually place them on medical suicide watch, cutting off their communication with the outside world.

The DOC’s hunger strike policy states that if multiple prisoners participate in a strike, they must be separated, according to Robinson. This policy prompted DOC officials to move Myers to segregation on Sept. 18, he said.

The DOC did not respond to the News’ request for clarification about its hunger strike policy.

Myers was hospitalized on Sept. 22 after passing out due to low blood sugar and blood pressure levels. Though nurses administered IV therapy and other injections, he refused the solid food they brought him. 

When Myers was medically discharged the following day, DOC officials brought him back to segregation for four hours before relocating him to the infirmary. Robinson was moved to the infirmary on the same day. 

Both men underscored the physical toll the hunger strike has taken on them. During the strike’s  first two weeks, Robinson and Myers lost 27 and 22 pounds, respectively. Robinson also described experiencing muscle aches, back pain and chronic fatigue.

The hunger strikers elected to consume Ensure three times a day starting Oct. 2. 

“I’m not trying to kill myself,” Myers said. “That’s not what this is about.”

The infirmary staff told Myers and Robinson that six bottles of Ensure did not substitute three daily meals, the men said, so consuming the drinks would not require them to end their hunger strike. Myers and Robinson continued to refuse solid meals each day. 

But on Monday, the men learned that DOC officials classified their daily doses of Ensure as meal substitutes because they were consuming more than 1,000 daily calories, Robinson said. Six bottles of Ensure Original total 1,320 calories. This was not confirmed by the DOC.

Frustrated by the infirmary staff’s “mind games” and “trickery,” the men began refusing Ensure at 7:00 p.m. on Monday.

Hunger strikers outline personal requests

Six days into the hunger strike, Robinson told the News he would not come off the strike until Quiros met with him and Myers and provided them with a written agreement to their demands. 

So far, Quiros has communicated with the hunger strikers through Ward. Ward told the men that an in-person meeting with Quiros is “not off the table,” Robinson said.

Ward met with Robinson and Myers on Sept. 30, Oct. 4 and Tuesday, Oct. 8. Quiros also visited MacDougall-Walker on Oct. 4 but did not meet with the hunger strikers, according to Robinson. 

“The commissioner’s been up the ranks for 30 years, and he doesn’t want to seem like he’s submitting to an inmate’s demands,” Robinson said.

Quiros did not respond to the News’ request for a comment about his decision to not meet with the hunger strikers.

During the hunger strikers’ meetings with Ward, he explained that their prison-wide demands would likely take years to be implemented, as they would have to be passed by the state legislature. The hunger strikers decided to end the strike once Quiros met their personal requests.

Both men asked to switch to a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. Ward is in the process of requesting the men’s medical records to confirm they qualify for the diet, Robinson said.

Quiros already approved a handful of the men’s requests. For example, Robinson was granted a daily dose of Ensure during the first month after he came off the strike. 

Robinson participated in a hunger strike with similar demands from June 7 to 20, shedding more than 20 pounds. He hopes the Ensure consumption will help him gain back weight and muscle mass he lost over the past four months.

Quiros also approved Myers’ request for a double mattress to reduce his chronic back pain, which he said is exacerbated by MacDougall-Walker’s thin mattresses.

Before Robinson learned he’d be sent back to Ohio, he made several other transfer requests. Robinson asked to be placed in a better MacDougall-Walker unit after he is medically discharged or moved to Garner Correctional Institution — the DOC’s designated mental health facility — in order to lead a mental health program for fellow prisoners. 

Robinson, who is serving his time on an intrastate transfer contract from Ohio, also asked for the contract to be revised so he could access more jobs and programming in Connecticut prisons. Ward told Robinson that rewriting the contract was not doable.

Myers’ main requests are a single cell and the removal of his segregation status from his record.

He noted that his cellmate has severe mental health conditions and often wakes him up at night. Myers already struggles to stay asleep because of his sleep apnea. He also expressed frustration about being placed in segregation solely because of his participation in the hunger strike. Even after getting moved to the infirmary, he remained on segregation status until Sept. 26.

Myers said he missed multiple showers during this period because correctional officers forgot to accompany him from his cell in the infirmary. He added that he didn’t receive his TV when correctional officers brought him his property.

According to Myers, he lost his job — which involved sweeping floors and cleaning tables after meals — after he was placed in segregation. He was also barred from using his tablet, which prisoners use to text friends and family, and making commissary purchases before Nov. 25.

The DOC did not respond to the News’ request for comment about why Myers was placed in segregation.

“Something… needs to change”

In the weeks after the June hunger strike ended, Robinson said, prisoners began receiving increased medical and mental health check-ups and were served more nutritious food. But he said after a few weeks, the DOC reverted back to its status quo.

Robinson feels hopeful that this strike will lead to longer-lasting change. Myers is not so sure.

“They’ve proven that they can’t be trusted, and they’re not good with their words,” Myers said. “They might do it for a month or two, but they just go back to the regular ways, and that’s something that needs to change.” 

The DOC did not respond to the News’ request for comment about backtracking on its promises after the June hunger strike.

State Rep. Robyn Porter, who represents New Haven and Hamden, said the back-to-back hunger strikes at MacDougall-Walker demonstrate that the prison’s issues are “persistent.” 

“The system isn’t broken — it’s working perfectly fine,” she said. “We have to break it.”

MacDougall-Walker currently houses 1,484 incarcerated people.