His testimony led to death sentences for riot leaders Carlos Sanders, Jason Robb, James Were, and George Skatzes. We know that mass incarceration traumatizes and breaks up our communities, is used predominantly against poor and working people, is racist, dehumanizing and ultimately serves no legitimate purpose. An inmate was heard to say, Thank you for the food, Kornegay said. February 3, 2012. It was two hours after the insurgency began before Warden Tate was notified. The task for defense lawyers, and for a community campaign demanding reconsideration, is more difficult than at Attica or Santa Fe. . The disturbance lasted eleven days, resulting in the deaths of nine prisoners and one guard. But the governor also activated 500 members of the Ohio National Guard. On Sunday, April 11th, the day before TB testing was scheduled to take place, a group of prisoners took action. The immediate cause or trigger of the rebellion was Warden Tates insistence on testing for TB by injecting a substance containing phenol, which a substantial number of Muslim prisoners believed to be prohibited by their religion. Photo by Eugene Garcia/AFP/Getty Images. When on April 15 and 16 the prisoners released hostage officers Darrold Clark and Anthony Demons, what did they ask for and get in return? Joel Woller. Kornegay, her voice choking as she announced Vallandinghams death, gave no other details including whether he was slain or died of natural causes. Following the inmate riot in the L-Block of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville, Ohio, in 1993, the Governor appointed a task force to identify the media lessons learned at Lucasville; this is the final report of the task force. Officer Vallandingham had previously served with the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Staughton Lynd is the author of Lucasville: the Untold Story of a Prison Uprising and Layers of Injustice. Nine perceived informants were killed, and one hostage guard, over the course of eleven days. With the help of Attorney Niki Schwartz, three prisoner representatives accepted a 21 point agreement and a peaceful surrender followed. These are not homicides like that of which Mumia Abu Jamal is accused or that for which Troy Davis was executed: homicides with one decedent, one alleged perpetrator, and half a dozen witnesses. On Easter Sunday of 1993, more than 400 inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility there took over one of three main prison cellblocks. Prosecutor Hogan told a trial court judge at sidebar that his colleague Prosecutor Stead had told Lavelle, Either you are going to be my witness or Im going to try to kill you. Vasvario said the state has two weeks to respond to his filing. A major turning point in the history of Lucasville came in 1990, when Beverly Taylor, a female tutor was murdered by a mentally unstable prisoner whom the prison administration had appointed as her aide. Among Staughton Lynd's many books is Lucasville, the story of one of the longest prison uprisings in U.S. history, which took place twenty years ago this week at the maximum security Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. The cause of death of the seventh hasnt been released. Lavelle was understandably concerned that the prosecutor might hit him with a murder charge because it is overwhelmingly likely that it was, in fact, he who coordinated Officer Vallandinghams murder. As a gesture of good faith, food and water were sent in Wednesday for the first time, along with prescription medicine for two of the hostages. LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) EDITOR'S NOTE On April 11, 1993, Easter Sunday, about 450 prisoners in Cellblock L at the maximum-security Southern Ohio Correctional Facility started a riot that would become one of the longest in U.S. history. Democracies die behind closed doors, he said. Inmates were persuaded by negotiators to release the bodies of the dead early Monday morning, more than 10 hours after the disturbance began at 3 p.m. Sunday, Kornegay said. Almost immediately after Tates arrival, a group of prisoners took a correctional officer hostage and demanded to broadcast a statement on a local radio station. I urge all present not to be distracted by official talk about alternative means of communication. Fathi quoted federal Judge Damon Keith, who ruled in 2002 that the Bush administration acted unlawfully in holding deportation hearings in secret whenever the government thought the people involved might be linked to terrorism. One of the reasons that led to the uprising was a fear among Muslim inmates that . . Like most prisons, SOCFs placement in this rural setting exaggerates cultural and racial divides between the prisoner population (largely urban people of color) and the rural white guards. Thirteen months into the investigation, a primary riot provocateur agreed to talk about Officer Vallandinghams death. 6. 2023 www.cincinnati.com. PHOTOS: Lucasville prison riot by: Staff Posted: Apr 10, 2018 / 08:37 PM EDT Updated: Apr 10, 2018 / 08:37 PM EDT FILE - This April 21, 1993, file photo, inmates raising their hands in. Eric Girdy has confessed to being one of the three killers of Earl Elder, using a shank made of glass from the mirror in the officers restroom, and slivers of glass were found in one of the lethal wounds and on the nearby floor. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville was opened in September 1972 to replace the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, where there had been riots in 1968. What were conditions at SOCF at the time of the uprising? Thank you. 8. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison. Clearly Arthur Tates belligerence and provocation of Lucasville prisoners got the funding and prison expansion he was looking for, and then some. Instead, author Staughton Lynd, a lawyer and historian who taught at Yale University and spent years investigating Lucasville, relies on history. Volunteers in Prison. 5. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Hundreds of prisoners, many of whom were on their way in from outdoor rec time, were now either in the occupied cell block or on the yard outside of it. The remaining hostages were released shortly before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Mayers said. Around 3:00 pm on Sunday April 11, 1993 a riot started when prisoners returning from recreation time attacked prison guards in cell block L. The guards held the keys to the entire cell block and it did not take long for the prisoners to take full advantage of the keys. Both were approached by representatives of the State. In a meeting with Muslim leaders six days prior to the uprising, Tate assured them that if they refused, they would be forced to take the injections in their cell blocks in front of the other prisoners, the approach that was most likely to provoke violent resistance. The collective responsibility of prisoners in L-block seems self-evident. Recording the video visit is a violation of the visitation policy.. For additional information on these opportunities or the application process, please contact Venetta Kennedy at 740-259-5544, ext. The riot apparently occurred for several reasons. He said he was going to tell them what they wanted to hear. Texas was the latest to prohibit inmates from having social media accounts. You can fight for justice by supporting them in court, opposing the death penalty in Ohio, writing letters or calling the Warden at OSP or the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC). Earlier in the crisis, negotiators had let a pool reporter, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, into a section of the prison unaffected by the siege to talk to inmates by telephone. Looking back on Tates actions after the uprising, some prisoners believe that he was trying to provoke violence in order to justify his expansion plans. The Lucasville riot and Atlanta riots were one of the longest riots to occur in prison facilities. The disturbance at the L Block started about 3 p.m. Sunday with a few prisoners, but other prisoners became involved, Kornegay said. On Easter Sunday, April 11, 1993, 450 Lucasville inmates, including an unlikely alliance of the prison gangs: Gangster Disciples, Black Muslims and the Aryan Brotherhood, rioted and took over the facility for 11 days. Earlier today, officials had said negotiations with the inmates has been progressing and that both sides had developed a mutual respect for each other. Such laws can be antithetical to the whole democratic system the free press is supposed to investigate how government agencies work, said David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Unions National Prison Project. They also took a guard hostage. The condemned are saying to us, Before you kill me, give me a chance to join with you in trying to figure out what actually occurred. Prisoners occupied a recreation yard. A courageous medical examiner said, No, the officers all died of bullet wounds. Meanwhile, the inmates continued to pour in. 47K views 4 years ago Twenty-five years ago, Ohio prison inmates killed nine of their own and one corrections officer during an 11-day riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in. The uprising occurred April 11-22, 1993, at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF). LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) An 11-day prison uprising that left at least eight people dead ended Wednesday when the inmates surrendered and freed the last five guards they had held hostage. You cant only allow in the reporters you like, who will write fawning, admiring pieces and keep out those who you think will be critical, he said. Inmates strangled the 40-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War on April 14 and threw his body into the recreation yard. Coyle was adamant and Skatzes was led away to a new location. Many of the 40-some prisoners sentenced after the uprising were transferred to OSP when it opened in May 1998. The Clayton Prison riot would be New Mexico's largest inmate uprising in the last 20 years. As of Mid-January 2012, it houses 90-100 level 5 supermax prisoners, around 170 level 4 prisoners, and 6 death row level 5 prisoners (4 of whom were involved in the Lucasville uprising) all are single-celled as described above. She gave no details on the other injuries. In the late morning of April 12, George Skatzes volunteered to go out on the yard, accompanied by Cecil Allen, carrying an enormous white flag of truce. The Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville opened in 1972 to replace an old penitentiary that also experienced uprisings and it quickly established a reputation for being rife with violence and abuses. [T]he more time that goes on the greater the chances for a peaceful resolution to the situation. This assumption proved to use an unfortunate phrase to be dead wrong. All five maintain their innocence and say the state convicted them with faulty testimony from inmates who were given deals. "The Lucasville riot was an all-together ugly affair, a public display of the worst humankind has to offer," retiredOhio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer wrote in 2005. Instead, some prisoners were singled out as leaders and subjected to reprisals and "twisted mockeries of trials," a summary of his book said. The states assault resulted in the deaths of 29 more prisoners and an additional 10 guards whom the prisoners were holding as hostages. Kornegay identified the hostage released as Darrold R. Clark, 23, a guard since 1991. On April 6, 1994, Skatzes was taken to a room where he found Sergeant Hudson, Trooper McGough of the Highway Patrol, and two prosecutors. Such was the state of disarray in 1989 that, four years before the 1993 uprising, the CIIC reported that prisoners relayed fears and predictions of a major disturbance unlike any ever seen in Ohio prison history.. By 3:21 am the next morning, prisoners who remained on the yard rather than in the cell block surrendered to the authorities, who rounded them up, stripped them of all clothes and possessions and packed them naked, ten to a cell in another block. Attica ended when soldiers stormed the compound, killing 29 prisoners and 10 guards. For twenty years the State of Ohio, through both its Columbus office of communications and individual wardens, has denied requests for media access to all prisoners convicted of illegal acts during the 11-day occupation. Journalists, for example from campus newspapers, who wish precise information as to how to request interviews should contact me. Among the approximately 200 people currently sentenced to death in Ohio are five who participated in what was very probably the longest prison rebellion in US history, the 1993 Lucasville "riot": Keith Lamar, Jason Robb, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Namir Abdul Mateen, and George Skatzes.