CT prisoners end hunger strike and will continue to push for reforms

Two men incarcerated in Connecticut’s largest prison have ended their hunger strike and started eating again.

Robinson, 40, said in an interview that he ended the strike Thursday after a meeting with a prison administration official who offered him the opportunity to work with younger inmates and have a say in designing programs. He said he would continue to push for reforms, with a focus on “release now,” reducing the high inmate population and better oversight of the Department of Corrections.

“I’m aware of the impact this has had, the doors it’s opening now,” he said. “It’s not just in here, it’s out there too, the public awareness.”

Davenport, 46, also ate something on Thursday, said his girlfriend Tammy Thompson, after hearing that Robinson had ended his strike.

“I’m so relieved,” Thompson wrote in a text message. “But it’s still a painful relief… because I still think he’s in pain.”

A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Correction did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, but confirmed that the hunger strike has been ongoing since earlier this week.

In a previous interview, Robinson told CT Insider he began his strike on June 7 in protest of a number of issues, including the “inhumane treatment” in prisons, including poor nutrition and the lack of adequate mental health care, as well as what he sees as unfair sentences for juvenile defendants.

Davenport, who said he began his strike a day after Robinson, said he was protesting the lack of support for mental health issues.

Both men described extreme hunger and bouts of dizziness during their hunger strike. Thompson said Davenport lost consciousness and was briefly hospitalized last weekend, while Robinson said he lost more than 20 pounds in less than two weeks.

When he finally ate something on Thursday, Robinson said he felt “an immediate burst of energy.”

Robinson and Davenport are both serving life sentences for murders committed in other states. Both are incarcerated in Connecticut under an interstate transfer agreement.

The 13-day hunger strike caught the attention of, among others, the Connecticut Justice Alliance, which tweeted Thursday that the group “stands with” Robinson and Davenport and “advocates for humane conditions and appropriate mental health care for all incarcerated individuals.”

Robinson said he was pleased with the outcome of the strike but would continue to push for more.

“I don’t want to lose this momentum, because then everything would have been in vain,” he said.

MacDougall-Walker, where Robinson and Davenport are incarcerated, is both a maximum security prison and a maximum security prison with more than 1,500 people. It is the largest prison by population in New England.