UTAH STATE PRISON — After announcing a hunger strike five days ago, all but two Utah State Prison inmates who had gone without food resumed eating Wednesday, prison officials announced.

Wednesday morning, 31 inmates accepted their breakfasts, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Adams. But by lunch time, 40 of the 42 inmates who had been participating in the strike accepted their meal trays.

All of the inmates are documented gang members who are part of the prison's Special Threat Group housed in the Uintah 2 unit, according to prison administrators.

On Friday, 42 inmates started a hunger strike to bring attention to a list of six demands, including the relocation of certain gang leaders from one area of maximum security to another, improvements in living conditions including less time in isolation and more access to rehabilitative or educational programs.

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42 'documented gang members' go on hunger strike at prison

Forty-two inmates at Utah State Prison went on a hunger strike Friday morning and said they won't eat until their demands are met.

The Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announced Monday that it supported the hunger strike and the inmates' request for relief from specific conditions.

Also on Monday, prison officials said stockpiled food was found in some of the cells of inmates who claimed to be on strike. On Tuesday, Adams said the prison was reducing the privileges of those involved in the strike.

"The move is a standard consequence for acts that are disruptive to the operation of the facility or jeopardize safety and security. The result of the decrease in privileges will vary from inmate to inmate, but include loss of personal television privileges, a decrease in the amount they may spend each week on commissary or what they may buy, and removal of some property — commissary, televisions — from their cells," Adams said.

As prison officials attempted to talk to some of the inmates about loss of privileges, "several inmates covered their cell-door windows with paper, refused to submit to handcuffs and broke sprinklers in their cells, causing flooding," Adams said.

There was also a fight between two striking cellmates whom officers had to separate, she said.

Eleven inmates who refused to be handcuffed were moved to a different maximum security unit. Of those 11, all but one accepted a meal tray Wednesday morning.

"Medical staff also will continue to monitor the health of the two inmates who are still refusing to eat," Adams said.

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