Protesters demand Georgia prison reform

About 40 demonstrators gathered outside the state Capitol in Atlanta on Monday to express support for Georgia prison inmates who have reportedly been on a hunger strike for nearly a month.

The protesters, including members of the Occupy Atlanta movement, also demanded that the state enact prison reform. They were brought together by the family of an inmate who has allegedly been kept in solitary confinement for 18 months.

Demonstrators said that inmate Miguel Jackson was beaten by prison guards at Smith State Prison in December 2010. Jackson, imprisoned for armed robbery since 1996, was transferred in 2011 to the Georgia Classification & Diagnostic Prison, where he currently resides.

There, according to his wife Delma Jackson, Miguel Jackson and nine other inmates started a hunger strike on June 10 to protest prison conditions.

"Miguel and other inmates at Georgia Diagnostics have been denied access to proper hygiene [and] medical treatment for their numerous and severe injuries, many of which were inflicted 18 months ago," she wrote in a Change.org petition.

The protesters Monday called on the state to change the way it treats all prisoners, particularly its use of solitary confinement.

In the online petition, the Jackson family also demanded that Georgia provide prisoners like Miguel Jackson with "status reviews every 30 days as [required by Georgia procedure], restoration of their visiting and communications rights, and access to their meager personal property."

The Department of Corrections told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution it would look into the allegations and respond shortly.

Protesters said they plan to become increasingly vocal until the state enacts prison reform.

"It's just the beginning," demonstrator Sopiko Japaridze said.

Atlanta police officers were on hand for the protest, which occurred without incident.