1931

There were 22 recorded strikes in 1931, spread over 12 prisons. As the tables below show, a large majority of the strikes lasted less than a week. Continuing the trends of previous years, more than half of the strikes included no information about force feedings, while more than a third of prisoners refused to give a reason for their strike. 

There is no evidence of a coordinated group strike in 1931. The two longest strikes of the year were carried out by the same prisoner, Arthur Harrison. On June 9, 1931, Harrison was remanded to Brixton; the following day he began a 35 day hunger strike, stating simply that he did not want any food. Officials used an oesophagal tube to force feed him 85 times, around two and a half times per day. 

On July 15, the day his strike ended, Harrison was sentenced in court to five years at Parkhurst for larceny, false pretence, and being a "habitual criminal." In December he began a 39 day hunger strike in protest over being placed on a punishment diet. Once again officials used an oesophagal tube to force feed him, but did so less frequently the second time around (38 feedings, just under once per day).