After 18 days with no food, 15 with no calories and an 11 percent body weight loss, a local activist ended his hunger strike for his safety.
Going by Inmate #1776, he tried to make a change and get major Indiana newspapers to take notice of the hunger strikes in Guantanamo Bay.
Inmate #1776 put on his orange and black hooded prisoner uniform and began his hunger strike May 13 after a public waterboarding, which he said was a horrifying mix of drowning and suffocating. Calling it a “Hunger Strike for Journalistic Integrity,” he said he would not eat until American media informed our nation of the hunger strikes and treatment of prisoners.
“Democracy requires informed citizens to get something done,” he said.
With a blog and Twitter page tracking his journey, Inmate #1776 began his means to cause change. The first three days of his hunger strike began with juice and then it was zero calories for the next 15 days. There were occasional photo updates showing his weight loss and video “interrogations” in which he describes himself as “hungry as hell” on his Facebook, as well as support from places across state boarders.
His friends showed some concern from the beginning but made sure he was ready. “I’m the kind of person who forgets meals, so they made sure I ate leading up to the fast,” Inmate #1776 said.
Mary Ogle is Inmate #1776’s best friend and support system through his protests.
“I was immediately very opposed to the idea, but as he explained why he needed to I realized that he was right,” Ogle said. “It was terrifying. Mentally I didn’t know if he’d be able to know when it was time to stop. The last week was pretty nerve-wracking because he was being less and less active, and on the last day he could barely sit up.”
The 18 day strike caused some attention, but it was not the attention he was aiming for. Not one of the 10 Indiana newspapers Inmate #1776 was targeting followed through with reporting on the hunger strikes that have been going on in Guantanamo Bay since February. With his safety in jeopardy, and significant weight loss, Inmate #1776 had to stop his strike on May 30, with one last interrogation addressed to the public.
“I’m getting extremely lightheaded and cognitively, it’s definitely affected me. I can feel extreme difference in myself,” he said. “You haven’t seen the last of me. I am Inmate #1776.”
