Re-Examining the Lucasville Uprising Conference

Friday, April 12, 2013

Four Lucasville Uprising Prisoners on Hunger Strike.

April 11th, 2013, Youngstown, OH- Four prisoners housed at Ohio State Penitentiary began refusing food today. Greg Curry, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Bomani Shakur, who have been housed at OSP since it opened, are demanding that media outlets be allowed to come for sit-down on-camera interviews with them. In a recorded announcement, Bomani Shakur described the hunger strike as a "protest [of] the state's unfair and unreasonable refusal to grant us access to the media... I am an innocent man. This is injustice, the state of Ohio is trying to kill me."

Numerous news sources have recently contacted the prisoners because of their involvement in the Lucasville Uprising twenty years ago. The hunger strike was timed with the anniversary of the uprising, along with a conference focused on taking another look at what happened in 1993.

"There are two important reasons for media access. The first is to humanize the prisoner... the second... [is to give] the prisoner a way to contribute to the search for truth about his alleged crimes" wrote long time prisoner advocate Staughton Lynd. "[When] a journalist and a prisoner can speak face to face... the reporter [can] ask follow-up questions as in a courtroom cross-examination." Lynd also cites legal opinions that advocate a right for prisoners to speak to the media. See Staughton's full statement at Re-ExaminingLucasville.org.

The prisoners announced the hunger strike during a brief informal telephone interview with The Associated Press, who ran an article on the eve of the hunger strike. Siddique Abdullah Hasan and Jason Robb were convicted of complicity in the murder of the hostage guard officer Vallandingham and condemned to death. They maintain their innocence and argue that as negotiators of the agreement that ended the uprising, they actually avoided further loss of life. Bomani Shakur (also known as Keith Lamar) and Greg Curry both surrendered on the first day of the uprising, but were charged and convicted of killing perceived snitches in the first hours of the disturbance. They both also maintain their innocence. Curry is serving a life sentence. Shakur has appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Supporters of the Lucasville Uprising Prisoners have planned a three day conference memorializing the Lucasville Uprising and re-examining the investigations and prosecutions that produced these convictions. The Re-Examining Lucasville conference will take place at Columbus State Community College on the weekend of April 19th-21st.

Advocates are also encouraging supporters to call Warden David Bobby at OSP and request that he negotiate with and allow media access. Warden Bobby can be reached at 330-743-0700 ext 2006. Supporters can also write to the prisoners at the following addresses.

Greg Curry 213-159

Siddique Abdullah Hasan R130-559

Jason Robb 308-919

Bomani Shakur (Lamar) 317-117

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Staughton Lynd on Media Access for Uprising Prisoners

Friends and colleagues,

Greetings.

As you may know, there have been two AP articles this week on the need for media access to prisoners found guilty of alleged misconduct in the Lucasville uprising of April 1993.

The second article, below, informs readers that four Lucasville defendants at the Ohio State Penitentiary, S.A. Hasan, Keith LaMar, and Jason Robb (sentenced to death) and Gregory Curry (sentenced to life imprisonment), will begin a hunger strike tomorrow morning, Thursday April 11, twenty years from the day the 1993 rebellion began. The sole issue of this particular action is the demand for media access.

The article also contains excerpts of an interview the AP reporter conducted, over the telephone, with S.A. Hasan.

4 Lucasville Uprising Prisoners Start Hunger Strike

Greg Curry, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb and Bomani Shakur will begin refusing food on April 11th. They are demanding that media be allowed access to sit-down interviews with them. These interviews are essential to humanizing the prisoners and allowing them to contribute to the search for truth about his alleged crimes. A face to face interview permits follow-up questions and a more direct and thorough interaction than other forms of interview.
The Associated Press Columbus has written an article on the hunger strike, which is getting national attention.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Tentative Schedule

Please REGISTER for the conference so we know how many people to prepare for. Thank you.

CONFERENCE LOCATION: CT Building, 339 Cleveland Avenue.
Located just south of the I-670 exit ramp and the old Wonder Bread factory. It is a one-story building with a parking lot to the north and red awning at the front door. The sign in front of the building says Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation. On the Columbus State Community College website map, it is referred to as "CT."

RE-EXAMINING LUCASVILLE: SCHEDULE

Friday, April 19, 7 to 9:30 p.m., Introducing Lucasville, Chairperson, Bob Fitrakis

· Welcome

· Derrick Jones, documentary film, The Great Incarcerator: Part 2, The Shadow of Lucasville

· Lucasville Uprising Prisoners speak

Saturday, April 20, 9 to noon, Chairperson, Alice Lynd

9:00 - 9:55 a.m., two skits drawn from transcripts:

· “The Making of a Snitch,” Highway Patrol interview with man who became an informant;

· “The Death-Qualified Jury,” exclusion of potential jurors

10:00 - 10:55 a.m., Survivors of Lucasville

· Conditions at Lucasville before the Uprising

11:00 a.m. - noon, Struggle in the Courts

· Attorney Vicki Werneke, Capital Habeas Unit, Federal Public Defender, on complicity and obstacles in habeas representation

· Staughton Lynd, attorney and author of Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising

Saturday, April 20, noon to 1 p.m., Lunch, to be provided

Saturday, April 20, 1 to 3 p.m., Layers of Injustice, Chairperson, Staughton Lynd

· Attorney Mark Donatelli, represented defendants after New Mexico prison uprising

· Attorney Niki Schwartz, represented prisoners in Lucasville negotiations

· Attorney Rick Kerger, represented Hasan in state court until taken off case by trial court judge

· Professor Phyllis Crocker, Cleveland Marshall Law School, chaired ABA panel on death penalty in

Ohio, member of task force appointed by Ohio Supreme Court to examine death penalty

Saturday, April 20, 3 to 5 p.m., breakout sessions

· Bonnie Kerness and Ojore Lutalo, art work and video “Sneak Peek” on isolation as a political tool in New Jersey prison

· Central Ohio Prisoner Advocates (COPA) and Redbird Prison Abolition, current conditions in Ohio prisons

· Others to be announced

Saturday, April 20, 7 to 9:30 p.m.

· Derrick Jones, documentary film, The Great Incarcerator: Part 1, Dark Little Secrets

· Entertainment

Sunday, April 21, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Building Support, Chairperson, Ben Turk

· Noelle Hanrahan, Prison Radio: Mumia Abu Jamal support campaign

· Wide-ranging discussion about possible future actions

To register for the conference, go to: http://www.re-examininglucasville.org click Registration

Tentative Schedule

CONFERENCE LOCATION: CT Building, 339 Cleveland Avenue.
Located just south of the I-670 exit ramp and the old Wonder Bread factory. It is a one-story building with a parking lot to the north and red awning at the front door. The sign in front of the building says Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation. On the Columbus State Community College website map, it is referred to as "CT."