Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising

Staughton Lynd has been a scholar-activist all his adult life. The director of the Freedom Schools in the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, he also is the author of a number of books, including Intellectual Origins of American Radicalism and Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement. His most recent book is The New Rank and File, edited with Alice Lynd.

In 1993 prisoners took control of the maximum-security prison in Lucasville, Ohio. Their 11-day ordeal started with a dispute between the warden and Muslim prisoners and ended with a negotiated settlement, but only after nine prisoners and one hostage had been killed. In the months that followed, leaders of the uprising were singled out by the state, tried, and sentenced to death despite compelling evidence of their innocence. Lucasville tells the inside story of the uprising, the subsequent trial and sentencing. Eminent historian and lawyer Staughton Lynd brings the full power of evidence to bear as he retells the Lucasville story. He argues compellingly that the five men sentenced to death have been unfairly convicted. In addition, he describes the uprising from the inside--how the prisoners worked together, black and white, even Muslims and members of the Aryan Brotherhood, for the improvement of conditions. The ease with which the state has been able to use its resources, and the court's, to bring the Lucasville 5 to the point of education raises questions that will make readers want to rethink not only the justification for these convictions, but the legitimacy of the death penalty in any case.

Introduction 1. A Long Train of Abuses 2. The Worst of the Worst 3. Who Killed Officer Vallandingham? 4. Settlement of a Siege 5. The Criminal Injustice System: Before Trial 6. The Criminal Injustice System: Trial and Appeal 7. Overcoming Racism: the Lucasville Redemption 8. Attica and Amnesty Chronology Appendix A. Transcript of Tunnel Tape 61 Appendix B. Demands of the Prisoners in L Block Appendix C. Documents Circulated by Advocates of the Death Penalty for Lucasville Rioters Appendix D. "Petition for Justice and A Moratorium on all Executions in Ohio" Notes Index