LOS ANGELES — Sylvia Rogokos (inset) speaks at a July 30 protest in Sacramento, Calif., to support hundreds of prisoners on hunger strike throughout the state demanding an end to long-term solitary confinement and other inhumane practices.

Rogokos’ bother Frank is a hunger striker who has spent the last 23 years in solitary at Pelican Bay State Prison where he taught himself to draw.

“He won a $300 prize from Lowrider magazine for a drawing of Frida Kahlo and gave the money to a sick friend of the family,” Rogokos said.

But that drawing got Frank another six years in the prison’s Security Housing Unit. Prison authorities said Kahlo’s earrings and another picture of a female Aztec warrior in the magazine were “proof” that Frank is a gang member — and being labeled as such is often the sole basis for imposing the torturous conditions of solitary.

“They do this and then claim in public that the prisoners are the worst of the worst!” said Rogokos.

The action was organized by California Families to Abolish Solitary Confinement, which campaigns to expose inhumane prison conditions and organizes support for the hunger strikers.

— WENDY LYONS