Kenneth Shaun Traywick, the prison reform advocate also known as Swift Justice, has now been on a hunger strike at Bullock Correctional Facility for over three weeks. Traywick began the strike on Thursday, November 20 after an ADOC correctional officer pepper sprayed him from behind, reportedly as retaliation for Traywick speaking out about the officer’s assault of a fellow inmate, Michael Rowser.
Traywick has pledged to continue the strike until he is granted a meeting with ADOC Commissioner John Hamm. Traywick’s other demands include: transfer out of Bullock Correctional Facility; the end of “retaliatory and excessive force practices” by ADOC; the ability to send and receive written mail; and an investigation “into CERT Officers Glover and Bowen as well as any other officer accused of excessive force or retaliatory discipline/citation write ups.”
While Traywick continues his strike in restrictive housing, his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Hancock Traywick, has been working tirelessly to share her husband’s story. Dr. Traywick has been actively demanding transparency and accountability from ADOC, pressuring officials to meet her husband’s demands and to provide accurate information about his condition—now having gone more than 22 days without food.
In a written statement to APR, Dr. Traywick detailed her experience, her growing concern for her husband’s safety, and her frustration with what she describes as an ongoing lack of adequate communication from state officials.
“It’s been incredibly difficult watching my husband starve himself just to be heard,” Dr. Traywick wrote to APR. “Swift has been on a hunger strike because he could not stand by any longer seeing people being abused… especially those who don’t know how, or who can’t speak up very well as they are mental health patients. He started to receive disciplinary violations because he helped them learn how to stand up for themselves, and this impacts him greatly for any future parole considerations or for asking to have new evidence submitted on his behalf (he has maintained his innocence all of these years).”
“He believes the only thing he has left to barter with is his own body, and as his wife, I’m forced to sit on the outside knowing he is growing weaker each day… yet still being denied even the basic human dignity we all take for granted, like access to mental health care, bathroom facilities (without hot water as Bullock doesn’t have gas to heat food or water, or heat in general), or the ability to call or even write his family,” she added.
On Wednesday, an ADOC spokesperson told APR that Traywick is currently under observation with regular staff welfare checks and medical assessments by a physician. The spokesperson added that Traywick has been cooperative with those assessments and that his condition is stable, although he continues to refuse any nutrition including oral glucose or IV fluids.
Even with these clarifications, Dr. Traywick remains frustrated with what she describes as an ongoing lack of consistent communication from ADOC.
“What has been hardest is trying to communicate with ADOC and YesCare officials,” Dr. Traywick told APR. “I’ve called, emailed, and left messages for wardens, Constituent Services (which has been extremely unhelpful), and the Department of Corrections. Most of the time I receive no answer at all. When they do respond, it’s with vague statements or ‘we will go check on him’… As a spouse, being told nothing, while also knowing he could pass out, go into organ failure, or worse, is a kind of silent torture… it is horrible, and I have found myself not sleeping well and jumping every time the phone rings.”
Dr. Traywick also provided APR with a recording of a recent phone call between herself and Charles McKee, one of the three wardens at Bullock Correctional Facility. In the call, McKee informs Dr. Traywick that her husband is in “good spirits” but says that he does not know if Commissioner Hamm is aware of the situation and that he himself is unaware of what plans may be in place for reintroducing nutrition to Traywick once his strike is over.
Dr. Traywick said that when she subsequently tried reaching medical staff for more information regarding refeeding protocols, she was stonewalled and told to again speak with the warden. ADOC officials have also told Dr. Traywick that she may receive more updates on her husband’s medical condition if he fills out a specific form, “H2C,” but according to Dr. Traywick, that form has already been completed to no avail. She told APR that she remains concerned for her husband’s wellbeing and stressed the need for broader reform in Alabama’s prisons to address the issues that precipitated Traywick’s strike in the first place.
“Swift’s letters describe the conditions inside, the lack of response to grievances or reports of excessive force, retaliation, or threats toward those incarcerated, and the desperation of someone who feels forgotten by the system,” Dr. Traywick stated. “No wife should have to read the words from his mouth that he knows this may kill him. I am sharing his story because he asked me to, and because people deserve to know what is happening behind those walls.”
“Everyone should watch ‘The Alabama Solution’ and know that most of those incarcerated are eligible to return to society and they deserve to receive actual real rehabilitation to help with being successful not just work or community wise but also within their family,” she added, mentioning the 2025 documentary detailing concerning conditions inside Alabama’s prisons.
Dr. Traywick concluded her statement by calling on other concerned members of the public to put pressure on ADOC.
“I’m asking the world and ADOC: please don’t look away. Even a phone call, a question, or a light shining on ADOC can save a life,” Dr. Traywick stated. “My husband is more than an inmate, he is a human being, a husband, a father, a son, and a man asking only for humane treatment. We need help before this becomes a tragedy that could have been prevented.”
