One of the inmates in our prison dharma program (MIND WITHOUT BORDERS, Nalandabodhi) recently wrote me that he feared he had a serious medical condition and was prepared to face death. He had lost sensation from the knees down for over a month and had asked to see the doctor twice to no avail. A neurologist in our NYC sangha suggested that one of the causes could be vitamin B deficiency and this seems to have been correct. This young man, age 32, wrote again to report the doctor had finally seen him and after various tests, sent him some Vitamin B1 tablets which produced very quick relief. He has been in solitary in Pelican Bay for quite a few years and the prisoners in Solitary are only allowed to receive supplementary packages of food from their friends or family once a year, instead of every three months. He has also been a vegetarian for 6 or 7 years -- since he became a Buddhist. He reports that all prisoners, regardless of their diet, have been receiving less and less food. It is particularly bad for the vegetarians. They are no longer getting occasional fresh fruit. Instead they receive cake with frosting. They are getting pretzels instead of occasional pasta. Basically, they are substituting junk food for more wholesome food. My sangha brother, the neurologist, has strongly recommended that he abandon the vegetarian diet in that environment and says that he needs more than vitamin B1. He needs B6 and B12, and is probably suffering from other vitamin deficiencies -- especially things like Vitamin D, which is in sunlight.

What kind of a country do we live in that we are subjecting our prison population to slow starvation and malnutrition that WILL eventually make them seriously ill. Why? Because there is not enough money in the State budgets, and because Americans either do not know or do not care. Meanwhile, California, where Pelican Bay is, pays their guards as much or more than their teachers and has a very strong Guards Union.

It has meant a lot to this prisoner, who is a formal student of Ponlop Rinpoche and a friend and sangha brother, to 'do no harm' to animals by not eating their flesh. I can only hope that he will not stubbornly cling to his vegetarianism out of principle, so that he can minimize danger to his health.

This is doubtless the case for all prisoners in overcrowded prisons with budgets that are being cut. However, it is particularly hard on those in solitary. And, as we know, prisons now keep people in solitary not for months, but for years.

Is Solitary torture? Is slow starvation ethical?