Re-Examining Lucasville: Essay 3: A Tragedy?

in that respect was a motive for a comparatively brief and basically nonviolent descent of a mobile phone tote that appeared to come through results. In October 1985, conditions in J block, the disciplinary cellblock at SOCF, had deteriorated badly. Prisoners, among them John Perotti, Jay D. Scott and Eric Swofford, overpowered deuce guards and held them hostage for 15 hours. The inmates demanded transfers and better conditions, and expound their demands to the media over prison house telephones. The guards were released unharmed. Conditions improved. In 1993, accord to Muslim reservoir Reginald Williams, prisoners believed that if they could create vindicatory enough dissonance at SOCF to make up Columbus headquarters to intervene, Warden Tates intransigence active how to conduct TB tests could be overcome. Williams testified in the first examination of James Were a.k.a. Namir Abdul Mateen in 1995 that we were going to block ourselves in L-6 until we enkindle get mortal from Columbus to demonstrate how the TB tests talent be done. On cross-examination there was the interest exchange: \nQ. Youre look the plan was to accept a brief barricade in order to find attention to the event that religious beliefs were cosmos trounced upon? A. Exactly. Seven old age later, after(prenominal) Namirs trust had been vacated and the case returned to the run court for a second trial, Williams retell that the Muslims plan was to assume only a single nutrition area, L-6, so as to get soulfulness from the central right to come passel and address our concerns. Williams withal testified that when prisoners first approached the guards in L block there was no intention to suffer them. Williams himself coming togethered Corrections police officer Michael vex, put the injure to his neck, and informed him to engender me his keys and he use get hurt. He was saying, Dont grind me. And I was telling him: Im not going to stab you. I yet want t he keys. solely Stump reached for the jab and it broke in such a way that Stump held the blade. So at that time guys tho started jumping on him, because he had the knife in his hand. As in this encounter between prisoner Williams and Officer Stump, so throughout the seven-spot occupied aliment areas or pods of L block prisoners and officers set about off and, after brief hostilities, officers were injure and taken hostage. What those who began it calculate to have imagined as a brief, nonviolent demonstration had make a complete prison rebellion. \n