Which Way, L.A.?
Hunger Strike Hits California Prisons
In California prisons, hundreds of prisoners have been isolated for a decade. That's the main reason that tens of thousands of fellow-inmates have started refusing food.
By Warren Olney • • 26m ListenSolitary confinement leads to physical illness, mental issues and suicide. Human rights groups call it a violation of international law. But in California prisons, hundreds of prisoners have been isolated for a decade or more—and that's the main reason that tens of thousands of fellow-inmates have started refusing food. We'll update a system-wide action that's been planned for months. Also, Los Angeles was a hub of human diversity from the beginning. We hear about a new exhibit on city history from before the Pueblo up to the present day.
On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, Edward Snowden may be a fugitive from justice, but he was right about one thing. A secret court has vastly broadened the power of the National Security Agency to spy on Americans if it wants to. How did that happen? Is it making us safer?
Banner image: Felix Barrett/Debra Sweet
In this episode
2 storiesCan a Hunger Strike Force Changes in State Prisons?
After months in the planning stage, 30,000 inmates in California prisons began refusing food on Monday in what they hope will come to be recognized by corrections department officials as another full-fledged hunger strike.
Read the story20 minThe National History Museum's 'Becoming Los Angeles' Exhibit
Tradition has it that the City of Los Angeles was founded by 44 people in 1781. The real story is just one of the features of "Becoming Los Angeles: Stories of Nature and Culture." That's the final and largest new exhibition hall in the updated Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. KCRW's Lisa Napoli attended today's media preview.
Read the story6 min
