Contesting through food

Tracking hunger strikes in carceral food systems

Abstract

In highly regulated environments such as prisons, food-related practices seem to be one of the only activities that can be controlled by incarcerated people, although this control is very limited. Drawing on a media review conducted as part of the research project, we explore collective hunger strikes in Canadian prisons, highlighting the demands made by incarcerated individuals between 2016 and 2022, as well as the institutions’ response. Since these hunger strikes have been used to challenge various inhuman conditions of detention, we will reflect on them, and food more broadly, as a tool to resist authority, its ability to foster a sense of autonomy and identity for incarcerated folks as well as to forge a bond of solidarity through collective mobilization, both inside and outside prison walls. This paper shows how food is a space of contestation where incarcerated folks and Canadian carceral institutions fight with disproportionate means to gain power.