Five men have been on a hunger strike at the Santa Cruz Main Jail since Nov. 8. They are asking for better conditions, more oversight, cheaper prices on commissary goods and assurance that mail they get from their lawyers remains private. The writer is a pre-trial detainee who has spent close to five years inside the jail. “We think the public should know what happens to people inside these walls,” Jason Cortez writes. “Many of us have been inside for years awaiting trial. We are not yet guilty of any crimes, yet we are treated abominably.”
