The World - News from Aug. 8, 1985

About 10 prisoners, including five Solidarity trade union activists, have begun a hunger strike to protest harsh conditions at Leczyca Prison in northeastern Poland, Solidarity sources said. Reporters were given a letter, signed by the five members of the outlawed trade union and smuggled out of prison. Addressed to the prison director, it said: “Political prisoners are isolated, do not get letters, are barred from holy Mass, and the medical care over them is inadequate. We demand regular visits by our families, an end to blackmail and threats and better airing of the cells.”