Pollard Goes on Hunger Strike Protesting Jail Conditions

Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, went on a hunger strike at the federal penitentiary in Marion, III., Thursday night, members of his family told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday.

Carol Pollard said that her brother called her Thursday night and informed her of his hunger strike. “This is the only means I have to call attention to my situation,” she quoted her brother as saying.

Jonathan Pollard’s father-in-law, Bernard Henderson, said Pollard went on strike to call attention to his deteriorating conditions in prison and to the precarious situation of the health of his wife, Anne Pollard, who is serving a five-year sentence as an accessory to her husband.

Anne Pollard, who is imprisoned in a correctional institution in Rochester, Minn., suffers from a rare gastrointestinal disorder, which causes her a great deal of pain and, according to her family, endangers her life. She does not receive proper medical care, her father charged.

According to Henderson and Carol Pollard, Jonathan Pollard wants to protest the fact that his lawyer has not been able to represent him, and the fact that all his outgoing mail has been recently confiscated and not sent out.

Henderson said that the government prevents attorney Alan Dershowitz from representing Pollard by requesting the lawyer sign a document that bars him from disclosing any information he obtains in Pollard’s defense.

Carol Pollard said her brother will only drink water during his hunger strike. Asked for how long he intends to strike, she said he told her he will go “until the end” until both he and his wife “get some relief.”