the 2013 california prisoner hunger strike saw approximately 29,000 prisoners protesting conditions. this statewide hunger strike reaching 2/3 of california's prisons began with the organizing of inmates at pelican bay state prison. on 11 july 2011, prisoners at pelican bay state prison began a hunger strike to “protest torturous conditions in the security housing unit (shu) there”...and to advocate for procedural and policy changes like the termination of the “debriefing process” which forces prisoners “to name themselves or others as gang members as a condition of access to food or release from isolation”. nearly 7,000 inmates throughout the california prison system stood in solidarity with these pelican state bay prisoners in 2011 by also refusing their food. also in solidarity with the 2011 pelican bay prisoners on strike is the bay area coalition of grassroots organizations known as the prisoner hunger strike solidarity coalition. this coalition has aided the prisoners in their strike by providing a legal support force for their negotiations with the california department of corrections and rehabilitation (cdcr) and by creating and running a media based platform to raise support and awareness for the strikers and their demands among the general public.