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Dozens of maximum-security inmates continued their hunger strike Saturday, and the prison staff plans another round of check ups on Monday.

The 42 inmates are documented gang members and have "given the department a list of demands that includes release of gang leaders now housed in a different maximum-security unit" to other housing within the prison, according to a Utah Department of Corrections news release.

Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Adams declined to elaborate on the other demands, but said that prison officials are reviewing them.

During the strike, the prison is offering inmates a medical evaluation to determine their baseline weight and other vital statistics, so that their health can be monitored.

The medical checks are scheduled to occur again Monday.The Utah State Prison has the right to force feed the inmates. HB194, signed into law in 2012, gave correctional facilities the right to forcefully feed prisoners. But it's not a simple procedure. The prison would have to petition a court — for each inmate — for a hearing, and each inmate has the right to attend the hearing, testify, present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. With 42 inmates on strike since Friday morning, that's 42 hearings.

The Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union had opposed the bill, arguing that it violated an inmate's privacy, right to refuse treatment, and — if the hunger strike is politically motivated — right to free speech.

The Legislature passed HB194 after a Salt Lake County Jail inmate, Carlos Umana, starved to death. Umana suffered from schizophrenia and believed he was being poisoned.

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