Pontiac Prisoners
Support Coalition
APRIL'79
NEWSLETTER
No. 4
A TIME TO RESIST
On March 5, 1979, the Livingston County Grand Jury handed down indictments for the Pontiac rebellion. 31 prisoners were indicted, 17 for murder. The State has made it clear that it will ask the death penalty for
the 17. The Grand Jury will reconvene and probably return additional
indictments.
The enormity of what the State is attempting simply can not be expressed strongly enough. SEVENTEEN YOUNG BLACK MEN ARE TO BE BURNED TO DEATH
TO FEED JIM THOMPSON'S POLITICAL AMBITIONS. If he succeeds, it opens the
door for other reactionary politicians to perform the ultimate expression
of white supremacy—genocide.
Is this an exageration? Do we state the case too strongly? In previous issues of this Newsletter we have documented the frame-up and the
news media's assistance in creating an image of Black prisoners as drugcrazed animals led by their "gang" leaders. In the present issue, we
further document a conspiracy led by Jim Thompson to torture, frame and
railroad prisoners through the courts to conviction and death. We urge
you to consider our factual analyses carefully. Then ask yourself what
it means to put seventeen Black men to death on the basis of "evidence"
concocted under such circumstances.
cont'd on p.8
THE THOMPSON CONSPIRACY
frame-up in progress
The State of Illinois has handed down
indictments against 31 prisoners - 17 of
them charged with 15 counts each of murderfor the Pontiac rebellion of July 22, 1979.
It is particularly important to bring up
to date the evidence supporting the points
that we have made in earlier newsletters.
1) In order to absolve himself and his
administration from their responsibility
for the inhuman conditions that provoked
the Pontiac rebellion, it was necessary
for Gov. Thompson to change his original
position that the rebellion was a "spontaneous" act due to "overcrowding" and
"understaffing" to his present position
that the rebellion was caused by Black
"gangs" which "run the prisons" and ordered the rebellion and the deaths of the
three guards. Thus the "gangs" served
to relieve Thompson of responsibility and
to provide a convenient and politically
profitable scapegoat. 2) To implement
this political strategy there has been a
conspiracy at the highest levels of state
government - directed by Thompson himselfto frame 31 Black men - 17 on death penalty
charges - and obtain quick convictions by
any means at the state's disposal. 3) The
motivation behind this conspiracy is the
political ambition of Gov. Thompson and
his immediate aides such as Gayle Franzen.
The change in Thompson's official
position, which came in October, 1978, is
public record. In issue No. 3 of this
Newsletter we carefully documented the
change, and the supporting propaganda from
the mass media.
Furthermore it is only
logical that you can't send 17 men to the
electric chair -- which is what Thompson
wnats to do — for killing 3 men without
a charge of conspiracy. Three men have
been charged with the conspiracy itself.
What we charge here is that the only conspiracy around the Pontiac rebellion is
that conspiracy led by the Governor. It
is a conspiracy to frame prisoners, and
commit mass murder through a "legal" lynching. And it is this conspiracy to which
we now address ourselves.
who runs the prisons?
Thompson says that "gangs" run Pontiac and Stateville. Yet a Federal Judge,
after lengthy hearings on the conditions in
pontiac, disagreed. On January 29> 1979
United States District Court Judge Crowley
concluded:
"The record in this case is clear,
and I can make a finding now, if I
already didn't make it, that the
DOC (Illinois Department of Corrections) abdicated to the IDLE (Illinois
Department of Law Enforcement) the
running of the institution.
(It is)
complete abdication, and I don't
think that any other view of the way
that this institution has been run
can be taken by anyone who looks
at the record."
After a careful look at the facts,
this judge saw clearly that the prisons
were not out of control and run by gangs
at all. They were very much in control
and run by the IDLE, Illinois' version
of the FBI. The IDLE is directly accountable to the Governor. The man in charge
of IDLE during the Pontiac investigation,
Ty Fanner, is a long time friend of Gov.
Thompson who worked for Thompson in the
U.S. Attorney's office a few years back.
In other words, IDLE equals Jim Thompson.
It is this agency, under Thompson's
direction, which has been both running
the prisons and preparing cases against
prisoners for the July 22 rebellion.
intimidation and coercion
Jim Thompson's complete^ control of
Pontiac while "evidence" was being gathered
for the indictments allowed the use of the
most coercive tactic imaginable. The
effort was to intimidate prisoners to such
an extent that some would be willing to
testify to Thompson's concoction of what
happened on July 22 and put the finger on
some individuals. In issue No. 2 of this
Newsletter we documented those aspects of
this coercion of which we were aware at
the time. Now we can bring these up to
date.
Physical deprivation of human necessities is one way Thompson used his control
of the prisons to coerce prisoners. Throughout the period of prisoner interrogation,
prisoners were confined in tiny 5 1/2 x 9'
cells, (Smaller than a VW bug) two to a
cell 24 hours a day. They were deprived
of soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, showers,
clean clothes and sheets, and cigarettes.
They were fed cold unsanitary food - often
garnished with rat feces - served on paper
plates which were folded in half and shoved
through the rusty bars. The spilled food
from this process was left to accumulate
and rot on the floors. In addition to the
testimony of the prisoners themselves under
oath, these facts were further documented
by a reporter for the Chicago Tribune who
worked under cover as a guard. Governor
Thompson admitted that reporter Recktenwald's revelations "didn't surprise" him.
Another method of coercion is to isolate prisoners from attorneys, families
and friends. Thompson used his control
over the prison to do just that during the
investigation. IDLE's chief investigator
Dowdy admitted under oath that although
1500 interviews with prisoners were conducted and many prisoners requested to have
attorneys present, not a single attorney
was provided or present during these inter-
rogations. Even after Judge Crowley ordered the State to let attorneys into the
prison, IDLE investigators sat in the rooms
where attorneys talked with their clients;
and investigator Dowdy admitted in the
same deposition that his investigators
listed and discussed which prisoners saw
which lawyers.
All visits from families and friends
were banned from July 22 to October 16 and
were severely restricted thereafter. It
took a court order from Judge Crowley to
get even restricted family visits. Mail
was likewise greatly restricted. Notes
passed among prisoners were seized.
Conditions of physical and emotional
isolation and deprivation of this magnitude
are designed to make the victims vulnerable
to ruthless interrogation procedures. Thompson used his control over the prison to
implement such procedures. Prisoners nearly all of them Black - were escorted
one-by-one by white guards to be interrogated. They were initially offered cigarrets (cartons of these "banned" items
were stacked outside of interrogation rooms),
According to the sworn statement of the
lawyers for the prisoners:
"At these initial interviews,
prisoners were offered transfers
to less restrictive prisons and
help with the Parole Board if
they would give testimony against
other prisoners or prison organizations , (usually names or
organizations suggested by the
interrogators) as having participated in the July 22 rebellion.
They also were threatened with
indictments themselves if they
did not cooperate, and were told
to tell other prisoners that they
were going to get the electric
chair."
Prisoners were told by their interrogators that the deadlock (being confined to their cells deprived of the
bare necessities of life) would not end
until IDLE got somebody to talk. Prisoners were told during interrogation that
they would be held up front for hours
in order to give the impression to other
prisoners that they were giving testimony against them.
Here are some examples of the kinds
of "questions" asked during interrogation. (These examples were submitted to
Judge Crowley as a sworn statement on
February 21, 1979.)
"We'll guarantee you will make parole if you say
beat Officer
. Don't you want to get
?
Do you appreciate guys like him running the prison?"
"We will help you if you will just
testify that
is the leader of
, and that he gave the orders."
"We have evidence you did several
stabbings, now tell us which one you
did. Tell
he is through."
"We have evidence you were present
when Officer
was stabbed. If
you don't cooperate, we are going
to charge you. Even if we can't
convict you, this will hurt you before the Parole Board." (When the
prisoner refused to name other prisoners , he was told he would be indicted. )
"We're going to fry you in the electri chair by June."
continuing harassment
Efforts to intimidate have not
stopped with the initial round of
interrogations. On October 14, 1978
29 prisoners were transferred from
Pontiac to Stateville where they were
placed in segregation in the vicinity
of the electric chair. They were
charged administratively with participating in the July 22 rebellion.
Although not a single witness or iota
of evidence has been presented against
them, they have already been sentenced
to a year in segregation and have
lost a total of 29 years of good time
On November 27, 1978, 25 additional
Pontiac prisoners were put into segregation at Pontiac and have been
given the same sentences as the 29
at Stateville, Those so isolated at
Pontiac were placed in cells without
windows where near freezing temperatures were recorded.
On February 24th, 10 of these
prisoners were removed from Stateville and put into the federl Metropolitan Correctional Center. It was
announced publically that these were
hardened, vicious criminals and would
be dispersed throughout the federal
prison system.
The 54 prisoners placed in segregation have been subjected to more
ruthless interrogation. Many were
told that their sentence of a year
in segregation would be lifted if
they would "talk". In early February 1979, just prior to the Grand
Jury investigation that handed down
the indictments, many of these prisoners were taken from their cells
under false pretenses. They were
told they had an attorney or family
visit. Upon arrival at the Administrative Office, they were met by
IDLE investigator and by the very
State's Attorney who presented
"evidence" to the Grand Jury.
the "storming" of stateville
The headline in the Chicago Sun
Times on February 25, 1979 was
"STATEVILLE STORMED—Troopers move
in to 'take the prison back from
inmates'". This move was carefully
timed to put the cap on the indictments which were being considered by
the Grand Jury. The "Storming" had
all the makings of a tremendous publicity stunt to attempt to say to
any potential juror and the Grand
Jury members that the prisons were
in the control of "gang"s Despite
the fact that even now the State
admits that the contraband recovered
by the raid was "disappointing", the
image was set in people's minds that
it took a virtual army to regain
"control". The State for this occas
ion furnished the press corps with
mobile communications systems, telephone trucks, trucks with food and
coffee and even portable toilets.
Both CBS and NBC portrayed this even
as a media gimmick to help Thompson
build for the presidency. But behind
the gimmick was the terrible harassment of prisoners who were later
indicted for murder and a last ditch
effort to get some of the prisoners
to testify against others.
Many of the prisoners placed in
segregation at Stateville have testified that during and following the
so-called "takeover" of Stateville
by Thompson's special tactical unit,
they were beaten and maced by the
troopers. All of their personal
possessions—soap, toothpaste, family
pictures, etc.—as well as all of
their legal materials for their
defense have been taken from them.
Thompson's goons wearing special
orange suits presently march through
the prison galleries chanting in
cadence. They taunt the accused by
hurling racist insults at them and
point to the electric chair shouting
"let me pull the switch".
bulldozer justice
And now Thompson's conspiracy begins to play itself out in the courtroom. From the initial proceedings
against the 31 indicted, it is clear
that Thompson has the full cooperation of Livingston County Judge
Caisley in an effort move for trial
faster than any group of lawyers
could prepare cases. While the State
took five months to fabricate its
"evidence," the defense are to be
given only five weeks to prepare.
Motions to move the trial to Cook
County, virtually the only place
where a jury of peers could be found
(since Livingston County is dominated
by white people, many related to
guards) are to be given only about
two hours on March 29! The judge has
refused all motions to continue the
trials so that defense attorneys can
have time to prepare.
^r
Most prisoners still do not have
lawyers. Some are being given only
10 days to prepare pretrial motions.
Those attorneys now involved in the
defense are being forced to exhaust
their rights to substitute judges
before the present judge will rule
on where the trial will be held.
One particular incident in court
has already demonstrated that
Thompson's conspiracy against these
prisoners reaches into the court
system itself. Defense attorneys
asked that arraignments be conducted
on a single day in order to allow
families and the entire legal team
to be present. This was denied after
the State objected and the arraignments were dragged out over several
days. It came out in court that
Gayle Franzen, president Director
of the Department of Corrections
and Thompson's right hand man, had
contacted the Chief Justice of the
Illinois Supreme Court (the same
Justice who ultimately will hear
death penalty appeals if the 'State
gets the convictions it is seeking)
to ask for arraignments on separate
days. The Justice directed Franzen
to a Judge Gully (and presumably
contacted Gully) who handles procedures. Gully then wrote a letter to
Judge Caisley (who is trying the
case) asking him to cooperate with
the State; and when he did Gully
wrote Caisley a second letter congratulating him for his cooperation!
Just what else Thompson and the
Supreme Court Justices are cooking
up is anybody's guess. But we'll
find out all too soon.
thompson for president?!
We can only speculate about the
specific reasons why Governor Thompson has organized such a hideous
conspiracy. But Jim Thompson is a
political man who is dropping trial
balloons all over the place about
running for the Presidency. Apparently Thompson thinks that a ger.ocidal attack on Black people by ly
lynching 17 Black men is in tune
with today's political climate and
will win him votes. We think he is
wrong but we must all work doubly
hard to bring these facts to as many
people as possible. One thing is
very clear from these events. That
is, that the only gang that runs the
Illinois prison system is the
Thoinpson-Franzen gang, and we must
dismantle that gang to free the
Pontiac Brothers.
PRISON IS THE CRIME
T-SHIRT... get yours now!!
all shirts are black, x-large,
$5. each.(proceeds to
Pontiac Brothers Defense
_Fund.)_
. __
e nclbsed
$
name
address
city, state, zip_
WHO WE ARE
The Pontiac Prisoners Support Coalition
is a broad based coalition of community and
human rights organizations. We are one of
a number of organizations working within
the City Wide Coalition to Free The Pontiac
Brothers. The PPSC is organizing support
for the Pontiac Brothers in white communities, while other organizations organize
in Black and Latino communities.
We share the conviction that the Pontiac
prisoners' rebellion was a natural and predictable act of resistance to the inhuman
treatment of the prisoners, most of whom
are Black and Latino.
We understand that this inhuman treatment begins "outside" in the community
where Black and Latino people live with
many different forms of oppression. Those
men and women who organize against this
oppression are warehoused into cages in
overcrowded prisons and jails where slave
labor, inhuman conditions and arbitrary
ACT NOW!.
rules are enforced by racist guards.
The PPSC respects and supports the
initiatives of prisoners, takes leadership
from them and unites with them on the following principles.
*Demand the abolition of all inhuman and
abusive conditions at Pontiac and other
Illinois prisons.
*Repeal Class X legislation.
*Revoke the death penalty.
*Expose the investigation and its coercive strategy to scapegoat prisoners.
*End the deadlocks.
Further, we have taken responsibility
for:
*Educating primarily white people about
the racist nature of the prison system.
*Combatting anti-prisoner, racist attitudes and practice.
*Winning support for the demands of the
prisoners.
*Providing political and legal support
for the prisoners who will be charged.
We need your political and financial
support. Funds we raise will be placed in
the Pontiac Brothers Defense Fund and will
eventually be transferred to those indicted
for the Pontiac rebellion. Please give
generously and help us in our efforts to
build a movement to support the Pontiac
brothers.
j:
J. iff
RETURN THIS FORM TO PPSC
2955 E. 88th Street
Chicago, IL 60617
I want to work on one of the PPSC
committees.
I can arrange for PPSC to show its
slide show or give talks to people
or groups I know.
donation to the
I enclose a $
defense effort. (Make checks payable
to: Pontiac Brothers Defense Fund.)
copies of this
Please send me
newsletter for me to distribute.
Please put me on the PPSC mailing
list.
Name
Address
call us at: 734-8276
or 427-4064*
ask for david or midge*
8
One has to assume that when a political animal like Jim Thompson conspires to murder seventeen or more Black men, he feels that the political
climate is ripe for such a hideous act. Unfortunately, the annals of
American history are full of instances when genocide against Black people
was the order of the day - from the slaughter of millions of Africans by
the slave trade to the lynching of over 3,000 Black people in the first
decades of this century. But not since the days of the slave rebellions
have the courts been used to put so many Black people to death all at once.
This is no time to cover your eyes and ears as so many white people
have throughout the U.S.'s bloody history of slavery and oppression of
Black people. If seventeen Black men can be burned to death at the expense, and with the blessing of, the Illinois taxpayer, how many more will
share their fate? If Thompson's proposed executions can be a springboard
to the White House, how many more will die as white "law and order" candidates seek higher office? How many of the 25 million Black people living
in American must die before we put an end to it? 17 hundred? 17 thousand?
17 million?
We call on all decent people to resist the evil Jim Thompson proposes
to show him most definitely that he cannot climb to the White House on
the bodies of 17 Black men. To fail to act with us to stop the executions
and the other repressive measures that will come with them is as much of
an outrage as the genocidal acts themselves. It is clearly a time when
neutrality is impossible. Either you will oppose mass murder or you will
end up with bloody hands. It is a time to resist.