Inmates across 17 states launch what could be the largest prison strike in American history

Prisoners across the country are going on strike.

Starting on Tuesday, inmates at prisons in at least 17 states plan to boycott work and launch demonstrations to protest facility conditions and low wages, Mother Jones reports. Inmates will refuse to work, organize sit-ins, boycott commissaries, and in some cases go on hunger strikes, hoping to draw attention by coordinating the largest prison strike in U.S. history.

Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, an inmate collective that provides legal help to other prisoners, organized the strike. "Prisons in America are a war zone," the organization said in a statement. "Every day prisoners are harmed due to conditions of confinement." JLS also released a list of demands, including increased access to rehabilitation services, voting rights, and standard wages for prison labor.

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Of the country's 2.3 million incarcerated individuals, reports The Guardian, more than 800,000 cook, clean, or work other jobs for wages as low as 4 cents an hour. Prisoners were recently paid $1 an hour, plus $2 a day to fight wildfires in California, reports Vox. The practice is one of the main issues at the heart of the protest, with JLS calling for "an immediate end to prison slavery."

Prison officials have not been vocal about the protest thus far, but advocates say inmates have been put into solitary confinement ahead of the strikes to cut down on communication efforts. While it's unclear how many inmates plan to participate in the strike, in 2016 a 12-state strike included more than 20,000 inmates who protested overcrowding and facility conditions. Read more at The Guardian.