For the past two weeks, thousands of California inmates in solitary confinement have been protesting conditions in security housing units with a hunger strike. Among the demands: that a photograph be allowed in the cell, and that counseling and more nutritious food be provided.
Host Dick Gordon speaks with Steven Czifra, who has been out of prison for a decade but is participating in the hunger strike in solidarity. Czifra spent eight years in solitary confinement starting when he was 14 years old. At one point, he spent a whole year without ever leaving his cell. "I think the point is to crack people," he says. "They don鈥檛 care if you go crazy."
Hear . Also in this show: reads his short story 鈥淪omething Rich and Strange,鈥� from his new collection, 鈥淣othing Gold Can Stay;鈥� and , who learned to play Bach when she was four, still loves to play his compositions as a soloist 鈥� and with other musicians.
