Why do prisoners go on hunger strike? That question only troubles people who’ve never been prisoners themselves. From the outside, it all looks complicated. From the inside, it’s simple: when you have no other way to fight back, you go on hunger strike. Ha-ha-ha. Well, there are a couple of other options, but it’s better to save those for later. Who’s lying on the bunk in prison uniform, bald, wearing glasses, with a Bible in his hands? That’s me. With a Bible, because it’s the only book I’ve managed to get in three weeks. And on the bunk (a wildly scandalous violation of the rules), because I’ve gone on hunger strike. So what else am I supposed to do? I have the right to invite a doctor and receive medication. They simply won’t let me have either. The pain in my back has spread to my leg. Parts of my right leg, and now my left as well, have lost sensation. Jokes aside, this is getting worrying. And instead of medical care, I’m being tortured through sleep deprivation (they wake me up 8 times a night), while the administration is egging on inmate-activists (aka “goats,” prison slang for prisoners who collaborate with the administration) to intimidate ordinary prisoners so they won’t clean around my bunk. They say it outright: “Alexei, sorry, but we’re just scared. This is Vladimir Oblast (a region of Russia). A prisoner’s life here is worth less than a pack of cigarettes.” So what am I supposed to do? I’ve gone on hunger strike demanding that the law be followed and that the doctor I requested be allowed to see me. So here I am, lying hungry, but still with both legs for now. And you—stay healthy too 😉