Michael McKevitt Bernadette Sands McKevitt, a sister of 1981 PIRA hunger striker and MP, Bobby Sands, who died during his hunger strike. Sands McKevitt was a leading member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and had been described in media reports as the third highest ranking Real IRA officer. She left the 32 County Sovereignty Movement following the imprisonment of her husband. Michael McKevitt Michael McKevitt (born 4 September 1949) is an Irish republican who was convicted of directing terrorism as the leader of the paramilitary organisation, the Real IRA. McKevitt, a native of County Louth, joined the Provisional IRA during the
2013 California prisoner hunger strike to demand cleaner facilities, better food and better access to the library. Triggered by the two month hunger strike, lawmakers agreed to hold public hearings on the conditions within California's maximum security prisons where this prolonged solitary confinement has taken place Following this announcement, a week later on September 4, 2013, there were 100 inmates in two prisons on a hunger strike; 40 of them had been on a hunger strike continuously since July 8. All remaining hunger strikers, in light of the lawmaker's promise, resumed eating on September 5, 2013. Solitary confinement in United States' prisons is the practice