Soledad Brothers
The Soledad Brothers were three inmates charged with the murder of a prison guard, John Vincent Mills, at California's
Soledad Prison
The strongest hold out no more than a couple of weeks. It destroys the logical processes of the mind, a man's thoughts become completely disorganized. The noise, madness streaming from every throat, frustrated sounds from the bars, metallic sounds from the walls, the steel trays, the iron beds bolted to the wall, the hollow sounds from a cast-iron sink or toilet. The smells, the human waste thrown at us, unwashed bodies, the rotten food. When a white con leaves here he's ruined for life. No black leaves Max Row walking. Either he leaves on the meat wagon or he leaves crawling licking at the pig's feet.[3]
In Jackson's letters from the prison he describes the attitude of the staff toward the convicts as both defensive and hostile, apparently out of pure malevolence. His account of life at the prison was used by the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee.[citation needed]
Prison yard riot
On January 13, 1970, 14 black inmates and 2 white inmates from the
Following the incident, thirteen black prisoners began a hunger strike in the hopes of securing an investigation.
Soledad Brothers Defense Committee
The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee was formed by Fay Stender to assist in publicizing the case and raising funds to defend Jackson, Drumgo, and Clutchette. Among the several celebrities, writers, and left-wing political activists that supported the SBDC and their cause were Julian Bond, Kay Boyle, Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Noam Chomsky, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Hayden, William Kunstler, Jessica Mitford, Linus Pauling, Pete Seeger, Benjamin Spock, and Angela Davis.[7][8][9] In June 1970, California State Senator Mervyn Dymally and the California Legislative Black Caucus pursued an investigation of Soledad Prison and released a report that tried to legitimize the committee and give it some credibility. Public reaction was mixed.[10] By the middle of that month, Davis was leading the movement.[10] Stender also arranged the publication of Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson, which was to contain various letters written by Jackson while in prison detailing his time spent in the prison throughout the trial.
Jonathan Jackson's attempt to free the Soledad Brothers
On August 7, 1970, George Jackson's seventeen-year-old brother
Cold and calm though.
'All right, gentlemen, I'm taking over now.' [nb 1]
Revolution, George"[3]
Angela Davis, who purchased the guns used in the escape attempt, was later tried on several charges in connection with the escape. A jury found her not guilty on murder, kidnapping, and criminal conspiracy charges.[12]
San Quentin Six
On August 21, 1971, days before his trial in the guard's killing, the 29-year-old Jackson allegedly launched a riot at San Quentin with a 9 mm pistol. There is controversy over the course of events that led to Jackson's obtaining of the firearm. Prison officials alleged that Stephen Bingham, the attorney who replaced Fay Stender[nb 2] as Jackson's attorney, visited Jackson. Bingham was alleged to have smuggled Jackson a pistol and an Afro wig. He was purported to have given a wig to Jackson in which to hide the gun. However, Bingham was found not guilty of this charge in an ensuing trial in 1986. Prison officials had claimed that as Jackson was attempting to leave his meeting with Bingham, a gun protruded from a wig he was wearing and Jackson was asked to show the object. With a gun in hand, Jackson released an entire floor of prisoners from the maximum-security wing, allegedly saying, "This is it, gentlemen, the Dragon has come!" In the ensuing melee, three guards were killed, as were two prisoners suspected of being snitches, before George Jackson rushed out into the yard where he was shot and killed by a guard. Other people involved in the case believe Jackson's death was a setup by prison authorities, who conspired to supply Jackson with a gun, in the hopes that he would be killed in the ensuing melee, allegedly because they saw his power as a threat to their control and authority. Inconsistencies in the stories, although common among eyewitnesses in many crimes, fueled the controversy and helped to set off an uprising at Attica Correctional Facility in New York three weeks later. Bingham's acquittal in 1986 on charges that he smuggled Jackson a gun and a wig, and was thereby responsible for the escape attempt and murders, occurred after he emerged from hiding for 13 years in order to stand trial.[14]
Trial
In San Francisco, proceedings were held in the Department 21 courtroom on the third floor of the Hall of Justice, the same courtroom in which Ruchell Magee would later be tried on charges related to the murder of Judge Haley.[15][16] Spectators, including the press, were separated from the proceedings by a $15,000 floor-to-ceiling barrier constructed of metal, wood, and bullet-proof glass.[15][nb 3] Throughout the trial, there were attempts to annul the proceedings on technicalities. There were complaints on behalf of the defendants that they were not informed of the scheduled court hearing, specifically in a letter from George Jackson on June 13, 1970. They also claimed the court report stated that 1-48 pages of the testimony were recorded and they were only given 1-46 pages of testimony.[3] After Jackson's death, on March 27, 1972, the two surviving Soledad Brothers—Clutchette and Drumgo—were acquitted by a San Francisco jury of the original charges of murdering a prison guard on the grounds that the state had failed to completely prove its case.[17]
Notes
- ^ The final words Jonathan Jackson used in the San Rafael courthouse.[3]
- ^ Eight years after George Jackson's death, Fay Stender was shot in 1979, allegedly by a member of the Black Guerilla Family for not supporting Jackson's militarist politics. She suffered severe injuries that led to her paralysis. Stender committed suicide in May, 1980.[13]
- ^ The barrier was also reported to be soundproof, thereby requiring a public address system so that spectators could hear the proceedings.[15]
References
- Beaver County Times. January 17, 1970. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
- ISBN 979-8808864979.
- ^ ISBN 978-0698103474.
- ^ Hatfield, Lary (January 7, 1985). "Last vestiges of radical movement will go on trial in Bingham case". The Day. New London, Connecticut: The Day Publishing Company. pp. 1–4. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 0-8014-8597-5.
- ^ "Negro Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike in Bid for Investigation". The Bulletin. January 15, 1970. Retrieved August 11, 2010.
- ISBN 9781566397506.
- ISBN 9780807871171. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
- ^ Scott, Austin (October 18, 1970). "New Rebellion Brewing Inside Nation's Prisons". The Tuscaloosa News. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. AP. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 9780801485978. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
- ^ "Justice: A Bad Week for the Good Guys". TIME. August 1970. Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
- ^ Caldwell. Earl. "Angela Davis Acquitted on All Charges", The New York Times, June 5, 1972.
- ISBN 978-0742520271.
- ^ "People In The News: Ex-fugitive finally feels free, retains his political activism". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. June 28, 1987. p. 2A. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
- ^ a b c Streeter, Harold V. (August 29, 1971). "'Soledad Brothers' Conflict Incites 11 Violent Deaths" (PDF). San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
- ^ Streeter, Harold V. (August 18, 1972). "Magee Trial – Dullsville Revisited" (PDF). San Francisco, California. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
- ^ "Acquit Soledad Brothers", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 29, 1972, p. 1
Further reading
- Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (1970). ISBN 1-55652-230-4
- Min S Yee. The Melancholy History of Soledad Prison; In Which a Utopian Scheme Turns Bedlam (1973). ISBN 0-06-129800-X