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Soledad Brothers
The Soledad Brothers were three African-American inmates charged with the murder of a prison guard, John Vincent Mills, at California's Soledad State Prison on January 16, 1970. George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette were alleged to have murdered Mills in retaliation for the shooting deaths by another prison guard, Opie G. Miller, of three black inmates during a fight in the exercise yard on January 13. The killing of Mills occurred 30 minutes after Soledad prisoners learned that Miller had been cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury.
The Soledad Brothers case became a leftist cause célèbre. A defense committee was organized on the three men's behalf, publicizing them as political prisoners. In August 1971, Jackson was shot and killed during an escape attempt from San Quentin State Prison. In March 1972, Drumgo and Clutchette were acquitted by a jury of Mills' murder.
In 1966, George Jackson met and befriended W. L. Nolen in San Quentin State Prison, where the pair co-founded the Marxist-Leninist Black Guerrilla Family (BGF). Later, the two men were transferred, along with Drumgo and Clutchette, to the Soledad Correctional Training Facility and housed in the "O" Wing, which was the maximum-security section reserved for the most difficult prisoners, and referred to by prison authorities as the "Adjustment Center". According to Jackson, in the "O" Wing:
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.
In Jackson's letters from Soledad, he characterizes the attitude of the correctional officers toward the convicts as both defensive and hostile, apparently out of pure malevolence. His account of life at the prison would later be used to build support for the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee.
On January 13, 1970, 17 inmates—roughly half of them black and the other half "virulently anti-black"—were skin-searched for weapons and then released into the "O" Wing exercise yard. It had been two months since they were last allowed outside. The black prisoners were ordered to the far end of the yard, while the white prisoners remained near the center. Officer Opie G. Miller, an expert marksman armed with a carbine, watched over the inmates from a guard tower 13 feet (4 m) above the yard. A fist fight between whites and blacks ensued, and Miller opened fire on the prisoners below. No warning shot was fired. Three black inmates were killed in the shooting: W. L. Nolen and Cleveland Edwards died instantly; Alvin Miller died in the prison hospital a few hours later. A white inmate, Billy D. Harris, was wounded in the groin by Miller's fourth shot. In a June 10, 1970 letter, Jackson described the scene as seeing three of his brothers "murdered [...] by a pig shooting from 30 feet above their heads with a military rifle."
Following the incident, thirteen black prisoners at Soledad began a hunger strike with the hope of spurring an investigation. On January 16, 1970, a Monterey County grand jury exonerated Miller with a ruling of "justifiable homicide". No black inmates were permitted to testify, including those who had been in the exercise yard during the shooting. Inmates at Soledad heard the grand jury's ruling on the prison radio. Thirty minutes later, prison guard John V. Mills was found dying in another maximum-security section, "Y" Wing (George Jackson's cellblock), having been beaten and thrown from a third-floor tier to the television room below. Mills was the first guard in Soledad's history to die in the line of duty. On February 14, 1970, after an investigation into his death by prison officials, George Lester Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Wesley Clutchette were indicted by a Monterey County grand jury for first-degree murder.
The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee (SBDC) was formed by Fay Stender to publicize the case and raise funds for the legal defense of Jackson, Drumgo, and Clutchette, who were viewed by the Left as political prisoners. Among the celebrities, writers, and political activists who endorsed the SBDC were Julian Bond, Kay Boyle, Marlon Brando, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jane Fonda, Jean Genet, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Hayden, William Kunstler, Barbara McNair, Jessica Mitford, Linus Pauling, Pete Seeger, Terry Southern, and Benjamin Spock.
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Soledad Brothers
The Soledad Brothers were three African-American inmates charged with the murder of a prison guard, John Vincent Mills, at California's Soledad State Prison on January 16, 1970. George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette were alleged to have murdered Mills in retaliation for the shooting deaths by another prison guard, Opie G. Miller, of three black inmates during a fight in the exercise yard on January 13. The killing of Mills occurred 30 minutes after Soledad prisoners learned that Miller had been cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury.
The Soledad Brothers case became a leftist cause célèbre. A defense committee was organized on the three men's behalf, publicizing them as political prisoners. In August 1971, Jackson was shot and killed during an escape attempt from San Quentin State Prison. In March 1972, Drumgo and Clutchette were acquitted by a jury of Mills' murder.
In 1966, George Jackson met and befriended W. L. Nolen in San Quentin State Prison, where the pair co-founded the Marxist-Leninist Black Guerrilla Family (BGF). Later, the two men were transferred, along with Drumgo and Clutchette, to the Soledad Correctional Training Facility and housed in the "O" Wing, which was the maximum-security section reserved for the most difficult prisoners, and referred to by prison authorities as the "Adjustment Center". According to Jackson, in the "O" Wing:
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.
In Jackson's letters from Soledad, he characterizes the attitude of the correctional officers toward the convicts as both defensive and hostile, apparently out of pure malevolence. His account of life at the prison would later be used to build support for the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee.
On January 13, 1970, 17 inmates—roughly half of them black and the other half "virulently anti-black"—were skin-searched for weapons and then released into the "O" Wing exercise yard. It had been two months since they were last allowed outside. The black prisoners were ordered to the far end of the yard, while the white prisoners remained near the center. Officer Opie G. Miller, an expert marksman armed with a carbine, watched over the inmates from a guard tower 13 feet (4 m) above the yard. A fist fight between whites and blacks ensued, and Miller opened fire on the prisoners below. No warning shot was fired. Three black inmates were killed in the shooting: W. L. Nolen and Cleveland Edwards died instantly; Alvin Miller died in the prison hospital a few hours later. A white inmate, Billy D. Harris, was wounded in the groin by Miller's fourth shot. In a June 10, 1970 letter, Jackson described the scene as seeing three of his brothers "murdered [...] by a pig shooting from 30 feet above their heads with a military rifle."
Following the incident, thirteen black prisoners at Soledad began a hunger strike with the hope of spurring an investigation. On January 16, 1970, a Monterey County grand jury exonerated Miller with a ruling of "justifiable homicide". No black inmates were permitted to testify, including those who had been in the exercise yard during the shooting. Inmates at Soledad heard the grand jury's ruling on the prison radio. Thirty minutes later, prison guard John V. Mills was found dying in another maximum-security section, "Y" Wing (George Jackson's cellblock), having been beaten and thrown from a third-floor tier to the television room below. Mills was the first guard in Soledad's history to die in the line of duty. On February 14, 1970, after an investigation into his death by prison officials, George Lester Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Wesley Clutchette were indicted by a Monterey County grand jury for first-degree murder.
The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee (SBDC) was formed by Fay Stender to publicize the case and raise funds for the legal defense of Jackson, Drumgo, and Clutchette, who were viewed by the Left as political prisoners. Among the celebrities, writers, and political activists who endorsed the SBDC were Julian Bond, Kay Boyle, Marlon Brando, Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jane Fonda, Jean Genet, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Hayden, William Kunstler, Barbara McNair, Jessica Mitford, Linus Pauling, Pete Seeger, Terry Southern, and Benjamin Spock.