Hartford - Cornell Lewis is no stranger to activism.

He rallied residents of Hartford to root out drug dealers in their neighborhoods. He organized a protest against the planned closure of a post office in one of the poorest sections of Connecticut's capital city. And he formed a group mostly comprised of black and Latino men to escort fatherless children to school during a particularly dangerous time in the city's troubled north end.

But Lewis' latest demonstration is more personal. On Monday, the 61-year-old minister, who works as a youth service officer at the state-run Connecticut Juvenile Training School in Middletown, began a hunger strike. He is attempting to draw attention to what he claims is a racist attitude toward minority employees at the state's only secure facility for delinquent boys.

"I've been involved in a lot of different protests over the years, however, this one is intensely personal because who I am as a person is being attacked," Lewis, who is black, told The Associated Press. "I'm being objectified and marginalized by people within what I call the DCF plantation, the Department of Children and Families plantation, specifically the Connecticut Juvenile Training School."

Lewis' hunger strike comes more than a year after he and four black co-workers filed a federal lawsuit against state officials, claiming black employees have been the target of racially motivated disciplinary actions, are promoted at a slower pace and have faced harassment. He contends that their concerns have been ignored by supervisors. The case is pending.

Lewis, who said he's frustrated by what he considers inaction by state officials, has pledged to consume only juice and water.

He said he plans to meet with his physician weekly as the strike progresses. Lewis is demanding an outside investigation into what he calls "administrative racism" at the facility. He also wants an apology to be given to the youth services officers for alleged biased treatment; and he wants training school administrators "found to have promoted and condoned racist acts" to be fired.

"I fully intend to take this hunger strike to a natural conclusion and make a bold statement by doing so," Lewis writes in a two-page letter explaining his actions. He then quotes the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, saying "death is better, a milder fate than tyranny."

State lawmakers are planning to look into the concerns of Lewis and other workers, some of which were raised in prior lawsuits. Hartford state Reps. Matthew Ritter and Douglas McCrory said they will hold a public hearing when the General Assembly convenes in February.

"Clearly there are problems going on at the juvenile facility. ... When constituents come to you, and they come there with issues, you want to look into them," Ritter said. "That's basically what we plan on doing."

Lewis' hunger strike took the superintendent of the Connecticut Juvenile Training School, William Rosenbeck, by surprise.

"I saw Mr. Lewis two weeks ago, and he didn't mention any of this to me," he said.

Rosenbeck is a named defendant in the lawsuit alleging racism at the facility. He said neither Lewis nor other workers informed him of any specific incidences of racism. Also, he said when Lewis met in the spring with the new commissioner of the DCF, Joette Katz, he spoke in generalities. The Department of Children and Families oversees the school.

"There is nothing specific that he provided the commissioner that we could sort of look into. Since that time, I have spoken to Cornell, but have never been apprised of any situations that he has experienced recently or that he has brought forward to my attention or to the attention of HR that we could look into," Rosenbeck said.

Katz referred all questions about her conversations with Lewis and the racism allegations to Rosenbeck.

"We're very proud of our diversity of our staff at CJTS. There are systems and processes in place for us to look into concerns of staff, and again, I have not received anything, nor has the human resources department," Rosenbeck said, adding how he encourages staff to come forward with concerns.

While he said he could not comment on the allegations included in the workers' lawsuit, Rosenbeck said he works at the facility every day and "I don't see the see the hostile environment there."

According to court documents, the four named plaintiffs said they've experienced and witnessed CJTS officials "permitting, encouraging, condoning, and/or authorizing continued disciplinary harassment of minority employees," in particular black employees. They said inequitable disciplinary actions have been taken against minority staff, as well as "humiliating and embarrassing public treatment based on race."

The plaintiffs maintain that CJTS officials should have been aware of the racial problems because complaints were filed with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Similar lawsuits have been filed in the past.

"Every black man that works in DCF has their own personal horror story, including Hispanics," said Joseph Pina, a former youth service officer at CJTS who is of creole dissent. "It's a very destructive environment for employees."

In January, more than 20 CJTS employees signed a petition demanding that CJTS administrators restore tools that the youth service officers can use to control unruly residents, provide additional agency police officers and improve cooperation between the youth service officers and the clinicians when it comes to restraining the teens. About 150 youth services officers oversee about 105 boys.

Rosenbeck said there is national evidence that shows the use of restraints can be dangerous to both staff and the juveniles and that CJTS has embraced the use of therapeutic interventions.