Rattling The Cages: “Looking Back At The George Jackson Brigade” (Mark Cook, Janine Bertram)
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![you could start, could you talk to us about different political prisoners you ‘met inside and your abilities to make friendships, organize, or just be together and what that was like? Janine Bertram: I met a few political prisoners. There was one person that was from the Weather Underground. I think people came into the prison because there were only two federal women’s prisons at that time, so they had to send people to FCI Pleasanton or Alderson. That’s where bo (brown] was for her entire time. But I met independentistas, some indigenous women, and one person from the Weather Underground, and it was really. good to have those connections inside. Then, just a few months before 1 got out, they brought one of the Brigade members to that prison and that wwas really good, too. We had never been the best of friends even in the e, but we were quite glad to see each other at that point in time. Eric King: Did you bond closer inside? Janine Bertram: Yes, certainly closer in a way, although when you’re underground you do bond. Eric King: And then with the other women that you spent time with, did vou all do anything together inside? Did you live together, did you do erafts together, or was it just like secing cach other and respecting one another? Janine Bertram: Oh, no, I mean we didn’t do anything formally like study ‘groups or something like that, but we certainly spent time together on the yard Eric King: Was there any racial divides in that prison at that time, like who ‘you could live with, who you could eat with? Janine Bertram: No, not set up by the state. I mean certainly there was racism among prisoners. Eric King: Sure. Mark, you were at a thousand different prisons, can you start with telling us where you first landed in the feds and then other political prisoners that you met and grew close with or got to know? Mark Cook: Well, first of all, I was sent to Leavenworth and the warden or g theages 9](rattling-the-cages-looking-back-at-the-george-jackson-brigade-mark-cook-janine-bertram-rattling-the-cages 9.png)
![involvement in prison siot on July 27, 1972, He escaped on April 29,19 he hijacked a bus transporting him (o another prison and remained underground until police apprehended him in Chicago on April 6, 976, After his arrest in Chicago, Wilson faced indictments on seven felony charges, facing up. to seven lfe sentences. Standing Deer was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary super- maximum-secusity prison in Marion, linois. While n the Marion prison, Wilson suffered from degenerative dise discase, high blood pressure, and diabetes. On May 17,1978, according to Standing Deer’s account, chief correctional officer Carey entered his hospital roorm with a well-dressed white man who claimed that he could obtain medical treatment and parole for Wilson i he would help “neutralize” Leonard Pelier: Standing Deer would belriend Peltier throvgh the prison’s Native American cultural group, convince Pelier that he had the means ‘and material to help him escape from prison, then prison offcials would kill Leonard Peltie during the escape attempt. Standing Deer agreed to his role in the plan after which Oklshoma suthorites dropped the warrants that they held on him and on June , they cancelled the pending trial and released him from the hospital. In Coming Home, an excerpt from s public message that he wrote in 1994, Standing Deer relayed the significance of meeting Peltier: " That] transformed my lie, brought me home to my People, and put me dead in the middle of the political struggle for the survival of my People.” He deseribes the events of that and the following day as spiritusal and political cleansing and transformation. As he approached Peltier that day, he could sense the love, respect, and commitment Peltier radiated and recognized his scars as piereings. and flesh offerings from th e (a sacred Lakota ceremony outlawed by US. institutions such as the Bureau of Indian Allairs and the Bureats of Prisons). Standing Deer confessed his role in the government plot to assassinate Peltier, and became an active and outspoken advocate for prisoners and political prisoners,in particular for their religious, physical, medicl, and intellectual and educational rights. In 1984, Standing Deer, Leonard Peltir, and Albert Gaza fasted for 42 days to draw attention to the deplarable conditions at FCI Marion, . when un Dan Linda Evans — an anti-imperialist political prisoner for 16 years, and before her. imprisonment she was involved in many organizations, including Students for o Democratic Society, the Weather Underground, and the May 19th Commaunist Organization. She was captured in 195 and convieted for her part in the Resistance Conspiracy Case. Her sentence was commated by outgoing president Bill Clinton in 2001 Linda was imprisoned at various jils, inchuding the DC jal and FC1 Dublin. Since her release, she has co-founded All of Us or None, a grassroots civl rights organization of formerly incarcerated people and their families, and she works tirlessly with California Coulition for Women Prisoners, the Drop LWOP Coalition, the Immigrant Defense Taskforce of North Bay Organizing Project in Santa Rosa, and the successful campaign to ree Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Along with her pastner Eve Goldberg, Linda wrote The Prison- Industrial Complex und the Global Economy. S et thecges](rattling-the-cages-looking-back-at-the-george-jackson-brigade-mark-cook-janine-bertram-rattling-the-cages 44.png)
![Forgotten Vietims of Attica, a group comprised of surviving hostages and relatives of the dead prison guards who were believed to have been encouraged to accept limited benefits which barred then from suing the state. Smith. married in 1959, studicd to be a paralegal, and worked as an investigator for lawyers. He passed away at 70 years old in Kingston, North Carolina, after a long, batle with cancer. He is survived by his wi bringing Big Black and Splitting the Sky into prisons to build political consciousness. “Around that time, the documentary about the Attiea uprising, simply called Attica, was released. Using my NLG connections, we obtained copy of the film, and over a period of time brovght various Attica Brothers to Seattle for showings. We’d screen the fim a places like the University of Washington, generally raising something in the neighborhood of fiftcen hundred bucks for the Atica Brothers Legal Defense Fund in the process. would help. put these events on for the NLG, but while these comrades were i town I would also bring them into Monroe under the banner of the WPLU to show the documentary to the prisoners For instance, we brought Big Black and Splitting the Sky in ike this. Afer the showing, the comrades would answer the conviets” questions about the Attica uprising’” (Ed Mead, Lumpe). earl. £d Mead remembers John “Splitting the Sky” Boncore — Mohawk/Cree revolutionary prisoner at ‘Attica state prison who also, along with other prisoners, led the Attica rebellion. Splitting the Sky grew upin poverty after his father died in work accident and was removed from his mother’s care and sent to foster care where he was physically abused and ended up homeless ater fighting back against one of his oppressive foster parents. Sent to the juvenile reformatory center in Elmira for robbinga sub shop out of desperation and unger after seeping on the sr New York City. In August 1973, the age of 19, he was transferred to Attica prison to serve the final months of his sentence. Splitting the Sky vividly remembers how the rebellion began, "We came to. stop and there was maybe about cight guards there. Then there was this tal,black brother, who was a known Panther, he said to the captain, ‘Why’d you lock thern brothers up last night?’ The captain said, I don’t know fellas, but we’lllook into it Then the brother said, You’re fiscking full of shit honkey! and he punched him right in the mouth nd knocked him dowen.” “That’s when Sam Melville] came out from somewhere and kicked him in the side of the ribs. And that’s when I turned around and yelled “Take this motherfucking place now!" and it was just like a spark and a praisie fire” The feve dozen prisoners in the corridor with Sam and John, including Richard X Clark, L. D. Barclay and Tommy Hicks, overpowered the guards and sipped dovn a gate separating them from their brothers in other blocks. Within minutes prisoners had control of most of the prison” (Lestie James Pickering, Mad ‘Bomber Melvill). After the brutal state repression of the rebellion, and despite a legal defense mounted by famed attorney William Kunstler, Spliting the Sky was convicted in 1975 by a jury of the murder of a prison guard, whom he denied attacking as was claimed, and was sentenced to 20 years to lfe n prison, but was granted clemency in 1976. Splitting the Sky later oined the American Indian 6 et thecages](rattling-the-cages-looking-back-at-the-george-jackson-brigade-mark-cook-janine-bertram-rattling-the-cages 46.png)
RATT|LING THEQ
ORAL HISTORIES oF
NORTH AMERICAN @)
POLITICAL PRISONERS m
v
“Looking Back at the
George Jackson Brigade”
=
-
Originally hosted as alive conversation by Firstorm Books, recording vailable on
Firestorms youtube channl,
e youtube.com/watchiv-xZrigi-oG0s
Mare 22,2025
Publshed by AK Pross, Ratding the Cages: Oral Histries of North American
PoliticalPisoners s roject of abolitionists Josh Davidson and Eric King, The
ook illed with the expericnce and wisdom of over hist current and former
North Amrican poiical prisoners. It provides first-hand detal of prison e and
the poliiea commitments tha continue o lesd prisoners into direet confrontation
with state authorites and insitutons.
Transcription, editng, and formatting by ev, Danielle,Josh & Jeremy with help
from Firestorm Bock.
allsbor votunteered
with whatever weapons a hand
Janine Bertram was active in Seattle-area queer and leftist communities in
the 19605 and 70 She co-founded the Seattle chapter of COYOTE (Call Off
Your Old Tired Ethics) and worked to collectivize the group. Janine was a
‘member of the George Jackson Brigade (GJB) and spent over four years in
prison for political work. The majority of her imprisonment was at FCI
Pleasanton. In prison she helped found the first U.S. prison parenting
program (Prison MATCH) and made it a collective with women ofall races
actively participating, She also held small study groups reading and
cussing George Jackson's work. Janine was heavily involved in the
Disability Justice and Rights continues to this day.
Mark Cook co-founded the frst prison chapter of the Black Panther Party
at Walla Walla State Penitentiary in Washington and worked tirelessly on
behalfof prisoners’ rights. Mark was a member of the George Jackson
e (GJB) in the Pacific Northwest during the 1970s. He spent four
decades behind bars, more than half of which was for his political work.
‘The majority of his imprisonment was in federal facilities, namely
Leavemvorth, Lompoc, and Lewisburg, and Walla Walla. Now in his late
80, Mark continues to be active and involved in movement work.
Eric King s a father, poet, author, and activist. In December 2023 he was,
released from the supermax ADX prison after spending nearly ten years as
a political prisoner for an act of protest over the police murder of Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He was held in solitary confinement for
vears and was met with violence by guards throughout his incarceration.
Eric has published three zines: Battle Tested (2015), Antifa in Prison (2019),
and Pacing in My Cell (2019). His sentencing statement is included in the
book Defiance: Anarchist Statements Before Judge and Jury (2019). Eric
‘now works as a paralegal for the Bread and Roses Legal Center.
ationg the cages 3
Libertie Valance: I'm going to go ahead and get us started here because I
don't want to waste any more time not hearing from our guests. So,
welcome everyone, thanks so much for joining. My name is
T'm a member of the Firestorm Collective. We're excited to be hosting
Rattling the Cages co-creator Eric King in conversation with former
political prisoners and George Jackson Brigade members Janine Bertram
and Mark Cook.
and
Just alittle background, Firestorm Books, where I'm hosting from, is 16-
year-old radical bookstore owned and operated by a queer feminist
collective in southern Appalachia on the land of the Cherokee People. 1
want to give a little bit of background information on our speakers today,
too.
First up, Janine Bertram was active in Seattle-area queer and leftist
communities in the 19608 and 70, she co-founded the Seattle chapter of
COYOTE, which is Call Off Your Old Tired Ethies (1 hope we hear alttle
more about that) and work to collectivize the group. Janine was a member
ofthe George Jackson Brigade and spent over four years in prison for
political work. The majority of her imprisonment was at FCI Pleasanton.
In prison she helped to found the first US prison parenting program and.
made it a collective with women of all races participating. She also held
small study groups reading and discussing George Jackson’s work. And
Janine was involved in the disability rights movement and helped pass the
ADA. Her activism in disability justice and rights continues to this day,
and we're so blessed to have you here with us, Janine.
Mark Cook co-founded the first prison chapter of the Black Panther Party
at Walla Walla State Penitentiary in Washington and worked tirelessly on
‘behalf of prisoners rights. Mark was a member of the George Jackson
Brigade in the Pacific Northwest during the 1970s and spent four decades
‘behind bars, more than half of which was for his political work The
‘majority of Mark's imprisonment was in federal facilities. Now in his 505,
Mark continues to be active and involved in movement work. Mark, thank.
you so much for being here with us.
Last but not least, Eric King s a father, poet, author, and activist. In
December 2023 he was released from the supermax ADX prison after
spending nearly ten years as a political prisoner for an act of protest over
the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He was held in
A et s
solitary confinement for years and was met with violence by guards
throughout his incarceration. Eric has published three zines: Battle
Tested, Antifa in Prison, and Pacing in My Cell. And his sentencing
statement is included in the book Defiance: Anarchist Statements Before
Judge and Jury. Eric now works as a paralegal for the Bread and Roses
Legal Center. Eric, thanks for being here and also for making this
incredible series happen. Also, as always, I just want to give a shout out to
Josh Davidson, the co-editor and co-creator of Rattling the Cages, who
does so much behind the scenes work to make these happen. So thank.
you, Josh. On that note it's time to pass it off. ' really looking forward to
this conversation. Eric, I think you can take it away.
Eric King: Awesome. Janine, Mark, thank you so much. We've got a nice
litle erowd adding up too, so appreciate that, as well. Iwan to start with
just a brief thing about the George Jackson Brigade and your involvement
with it. When I was inside, I received two books about you all and it was
just wildly influential to me, so could you both just briefly talk about what
the George Jackson Brigade was to you, how you came to join it, and just
give us it rundown of your experience with it? We can start with you,
Mark.
Mark Cook: The George Jackson Brigade arose from the name of George
Jackson, the field marshal of the Black Panther Party, and it was based
‘mostly on his writings. Myself, 1 just was a member of the Black Panther
Party and I used the 10-point program as my guide for the work I did
inside of prison. I started doing prison support work before I joined
igade and it was based mostly on the fact that prisoners were getting
serewed over behind their work, their abilities, in not getting paid for
anything In fact, it was a continuation of slavery, and there’s no such
thing as nice slavery. You may get a good job inside, but i’ still slavery,
and we're entitled to have the right to say how much we want to sell our
labor for, just like anybody else outside who belongs to a nion, or any
organized workers. So I carried that over.
As far as when I joined the Brigade, some of the work that they were doing
that inspired me was when they did support for the labor movement
inside of prison, the prisoners themselves, and of course the most
publicized one was the blowing up the Department of Corrections. That
was before Ijoined the Brigade. This was in the state of Washington. The
prisoners were being oppressed in solitary confinement, and they wrote
ationg the cages s
letters to various news media outside trying to get some kind of attention
to what was going on, and there’s no way they could get the attention. So
what the Brigade did was they wrote a memo, a newsletter to the public,
saying what was going on. And to get their attention they bombed the
Department of Corrections in the capitol. That got everybody's attention,
and immediately they got rid of the warden, moved some of the prison
guards out, and put people in solitary confinement out of solitary
confinement. That really impressed me.
‘The thing that was solid to the continuation of the work I was doing was
when I started CONvention, which had the right to speak as a provision
and prisoners’ rights as labor inside. Those were the two main things that
Istarted with CONvention.
Janine Bertram: Didn't the Panthers have you check us out or check the
Brigade out?
Mark Cook: Well,this was just before I joined the Brigade, and they asked
what the Brigade was about, and I told them about that. I told them how
they were following through on the second provision of the 10-point
program of the Black Panther Party, that everybody should be able to
have work. It was just a continuation. I joined it because that’s the main
things I was doing: the right t0 vote and the right to have privileges at
work.
Eric King: Janine, how about you? What led you there and what were your
experiences like?
Janine Bertram: Well, 1 joined the Brigade later than other people. When I
first heard and read about the Brigade I thought they were offending.
workers, but it turned out there was a huge strike of women’s electrical
workers, and at that point in time the Brigade did an action at Laurelhurst
substation on New Year's Eve, a bombing. In fact, many of the workers
loved it. S0 that electrical bombing, the Seattle City Light bombing, that’s
why I joined. And because of the workers. We talked to people on the
picket line—and this was before I joined the Brigade—and they really
appreciated Laurelhurst, so that made me reassess what I felt about
armed struggle. And 1 joined the Brigade after that because I had worked
with two Brigade members and had met Mark beforchand in the halfway
house. That was something that broadened my consciousness about
6 g thecages
racism, when they sent you back to prison, just the injustices were huge
and I wanted to take action against them,
Eric King: 1 hope everyone watching and everyone who watches in the
future takes note of the fact that they attacked the prison system, and we
could use some more diversity of tactics today. So Mark and Janine, could
you both tell us briefly what led to—Mark in your case the political
prisoner sentence, and then, Janine, for your time in prison—what charges
got you landed inside? And Janine, you can start.
Janine Bertram: Eric, actually I don't remember specifically what my
charges were. It was a long time ago. I think it was conspiracy to rob banks
and explosives.
Eric King: Okay, and how much time did you receive?
Janine Bertram: Ten years.
Eric King: And then you did four of it?
Janine Bertram: Yeah.
Eric King: Okay. And Mark, what about you? What was your political
prisoner case?
Mark Cook: Well, the George Jackson Brigade, according to Ed Mead, had
robbed a bank and they ended up getting busted. One, Bruce Seidel, was
Killed, and two others, John Sherman and Ed Mead, were locked up in
prison in Seattle and the Brigade decided to help them out. In other
words, free both of them. But they had to make a choice: they couldn’t do
both at the same time. There was an old part of the Brigade that we don't
really associate that much with, but when they heard what happened they
wanted to come immediately and help get Ed Mead out. But the story was
they had to get John out. So I was chosen as one of the people to help pull
this whole thing off. Without giving names, we had all the materials we
needed, we had a place to put John after we got him out of prison,
eteetera. o I confronted the police. John had been shot in the jaw during
the bank robbery, and his jaws were wired together so they had to take
him o the hospital regularly to have that checked on at King County
Hospital, not far from the jail S0 we had planned to intervene at the
ationg the cages 7
hospital and tell the officer, “We're taking your prisoner,” and leave, just
like that. But it didn’t quite go off that easy. The guard with him lowered
his hand—supposedly after the fact they said he was trying to get to
keys but it looked like he was going for his gun—and so T just pulled the
trigger, and the cop dropped. He didn’t die, he dropped. It's kind of an
exciting thing to hear, but it's a stomach turner at times. It didn’t go as
smoothly as we thought. He was taken by the other Brigade members off
toa safe house, and I returned to my family. I was a single father at the
time, T had a kid who was about ten years old at the time.
‘Eric King: And how much time did you receive for that?
Mark Cook I did twenty-four years for that in the federal system, and
later on about four or five more years in the state system. 1 was tried by
both the state and the feds.
Janine Bertram: And all of the white members of the Brigade who were
arrested got out long before Mark,
Mark Cook: Yeah, and that was expected. Before I got involved in it, we
saidif we ever did get locked up or approached by the police that I'd be
treated differently than them, There was no big surprise when did get
locked up for a long time. 1 got support from them, too. They did thei
time, they got out, they supported me, along with a lot of the community
Wwho continued to support e, which was surprising They took care of my
son, of course, and they brought him to every prison I was put in. I was
rotated seventeen times in the federal system, and they brought my son
each time to each prison from the time he was nine years old, and he grew
up and he had a son and he'd bring his son—grandfather, son, and the dad.
That was a connection T had, the support T had, during the time I was in
prison.
And in every prison I met political prisoners, whether Puerto Ri
whites, Black nationalists, Native Americans, and these were all political
prisoners at the time. In fact, Leonard Peltier just got out, and we sent
Leonard $1,000 just a while ago. We continue our support.
‘Eric King: That leads me into one of our questions. When you all went
inside it seems like there was a plethora of other political prisoners, like
that was a time when there was a lot of revolutionary activity. Janine, if
5t the s
you could start, could you talk to us about different political prisoners you
‘met inside and your abilities to make friendships, organize, or just be
together and what that was like?
Janine Bertram: I met a few political prisoners. There was one person that
was from the Weather Underground. I think people came into the prison
because there were only two federal women's prisons at that time, so they
had to send people to FCI Pleasanton or Alderson. That's where bo (brown]
was for her entire time. But I met independentistas, some indigenous
women, and one person from the Weather Underground, and it was really.
good to have those connections inside. Then, just a few months before 1
got out, they brought one of the Brigade members to that prison and that
wwas really good, too. We had never been the best of friends even in the
e, but we were quite glad to see each other at that point in time.
Eric King: Did you bond closer inside?
Janine Bertram: Yes, certainly closer in a way, although when you're
underground you do bond.
Eric King: And then with the other women that you spent time with, did
vou all do anything together inside? Did you live together, did you do
erafts together, or was it just like secing cach other and respecting one
another?
Janine Bertram: Oh, no, I mean we didn't do anything formally like study
‘groups or something like that, but we certainly spent time together on the
yard
Eric King: Was there any racial divides in that prison at that time, like who
‘you could live with, who you could eat with?
Janine Bertram: No, not set up by the state. I mean certainly there was
racism among prisoners.
Eric King: Sure. Mark, you were at a thousand different prisons, can you
start with telling us where you first landed in the feds and then other
political prisoners that you met and grew close with or got to know?
Mark Cook: Well, first of all, I was sent to Leavenworth and the warden or
g theages 9
superintendent didn’t want me in that prison—even though I was sent by
the court and 1 had a long term—but he didn’t want me, so they sent me to
Georgia, to another federal prison. While I was down there I met some of
the political prisoners: Richard Picariello from a group out in the
Northeast, there was a Panther, and there was, I can’t remember all their
names right now, but there were many that I met just in that prison alone.
‘There were so many killings at the time I showed up. I didn't stay there
very long. They shipped out three busloads of us, about thirty to each bus,
scattered around the United States to thin down to the political prisoners.
It was called the Atlanta migration,
Iended up back at Leavenworth, where the warden did not want me, and
they told him to take me as 1 was. There was going to be no rejection at all
‘They told the warden that. So they locked me up there in solitary
confinement for a while, until people outside told them what they were
doing and they finally let me out into the population, which had many
political prisoners there: the Puerto Ricans, the Black Panthers, AIM
people. That's where I met Standing Deer and Leonard Peltier and we.
were able to get together.
‘Eric King: I think I saw a picture of you, Leonard, and Tom Man
together. I might be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure I
Mark Cook: Jaan Laaman. Yeah, there’s a great many of us all. We'd gather
up, we had one of our comrades who ran the photo shop, Larry Giddings,
he was an anarchist out of California. They did a prison break in Seattle,
go three other people out, and had a shootout with the police. Anyways,
they ended up inside, and his job was to work in the photo shop. So people
Who wanted to send photos home to their parents, they got the single
shots, but he called us all at once, he put the call out on the yard to get all
of the political prisoners at that time, and they took these pietures. So
there’s alot of these pictures that have been taken and distributed around
the country now. We got together, we had lots of time to talk about errors
we made and also successes. We thought we were building on a movement
that would continue long after we got out; but it kind of dwindled and
turned into something else. A lot of the people we knew passed away, and
alot of new people were born after the movement, so they really didn’t
know. Anyways, Leavemworth was the first place I went to. When Larry
Giddings came to the prison he was a youngster at the time, very young,
and 1 gave him his clothes and other stuff. You know, the things that a
W g thecages
prisoner needs when he goes to prison. When I got there they did the
same thing. When I showed up, immediately prisoners gave me all the
s Ineeded to get started offin prison.
Eric King: Larry Giddings, that was Bill Dunne’s codefendant?
Mark Cook: Yeah, that was Bill Dunne’s codefendant. And it's sad to say he
was strong in prison, he was strong to a point, but they broke him
eventually. 1€’s sad to say. But we met him when he got out, and he lived
‘maybe two blocks from me, and 'd go up and visit him. We talked, and T
tried to get him involved with the movement on the street, but they broke
him. Anyways, it’s asad story, but he was strong while he was inside, he
never rolled over on anybody other than himself, you know, and that
happened to several prisoners. It wasn't all that casy to spend ten and
twenty years inside a prison away from your families and friends.
de ra
Eric King: When I was politics was huge, like they would
really push violence if you were a race traitor or co-mingling. Mark, was
that your situation there, were you allowed to basically have white
comrades or eat with white people or other races?
Mark Cook: Alot o the political prisoners were of different colors—
Latinos, Puerto Ricans, Blacks, whites. The ones on the left, we got
together, we ate at the same tables, we did what we wanted to do. Nobody.
really messed with us, and we also contended with the other side—the
Aryan Brotherhood and the KKK and the bikers and people like that
There was respect between us as prisoners, but we weren't on the same
path as far as the struggle went.
Tonly stayed at Leavenworth for I think it was about three years, and they
decided to transfer me, but I found out they were doing what they call
transit therapy. They kept moving me. They moved me to Lompoc, then
they moved me to....T can’t remember all the names, but 1 did list them. T
wrote a good diagram of where I was, what I did while I was in prison—
working, school, the people I had met.
Janine Bertram: S0 were they all federal prisoners?
Mark Cook: Well, most of them were federal prisoners, Later on they
brought some from California. They had riots in California prisons, and
ationg the cages [
they sent them into the federal system. There were also people that lived
on the islands. I guess they were Americans, I'm not sure, but they did
send them into the federal prison. We had one they had kidnapped in
Italy, a so-called terrorist, and they brought him over to America and
locked him up. That was common, where they bring foreign prisoners and
put them in the federal penitentiary. That's another part of the story. But
they transferred me seventeen times.
‘Eric King: Janine, I want to talk about family and community suppor.
Right now I see there's lots of abolitionist movements, there’s Books.
‘Through Bars, just different ways to support those inside. When you were
in, what was your level of support like? Did the community show up for
you? Did family show up for you?
Janine Bertram: It was huge. 1t was huge. There were maybe three people I
knew that didn’t support me, and I got huge support from the Seattle
community, from the California community, from my family, from
everybody. 1 mean, people even sent money and put it on my books. It was
amazing, 1 thought,
‘Eric King: Were you all llowed, like in Pleasanton, were you allowed to,
have books, magazines, newspapers, everything like that?
Janine Bertram: Yeah, pretty much, although 1 found out later the
‘mailroom was definitely just throwing away some anarchist papers.
‘Eric King: As they will
Janine Bertram: They even let the Marxist-Leni
but...
iterature through,
Mark Cook: A book called the Turner Diaries, now, i’s racist story, you
know, and that's the only book they tried to censor me. filed a complaint
that they let us have Hitler's book, Mein Kampf, the Dumb Coffin, in there
and some other books from the klan, and alot of the racist groups in the
South, but they wouldn'tlet Black prisoners have the Turner Diaries. So 1
filed my legal complaint, and finally they just gave up on me and let me
have the book. But Iwas a jailhouse lawyer, and 1 did some pretty good
work, and 1 got an appeal out, and we changed some of the law, but alot of
it turned into.
2 g thecages
Eric King: Wait, I want to ask you that later. Janine, real quick before |
switch over, what was the phone and visiting situations like
institution? Were you allowed unlimited calls, unlimited vi
that like?
your
2 What was
Janine Bertram: Unlimited calls. 1 mean, as long as you weren't occupying
all the phones all the time, there were other prisoners that needed to use
it. And people had to get on a visitors lst, but, yeah, during visiting hours
wwe could have as many people on our lsts as could come in.
Eric King: So there wasn't the three-hundred minutes a month or
anything like that that they have now?
Janine Bertram: No.
Eric King: God bless that, thank goodness. S0 Mark, I don't even know if
any of us remember the question, but did you have the same amount of
support from the outside world and from your family?
Mark Cook: Oh, I had great support, and a ltle support from my family.
‘mean, Lhad my sister and my son and niece, and they wrote to me
regularly. But I had a lot of support from Seatle, and from the Panthers.
In fact, from around the world, surprisingly. They were doing highway
strikes in Germany and in New England, mostly by Anarchist Black Cross
people. Alot of support from them. And I got support from Assata. 1 got
support from Assata after I got out, but we kind of knew each other. Rita
and Assata had celled together at one point, s0 we conneeted in a kind of
family relationship. When they sent her to Cuba, we knew the whole route
when they busted her out of jail and sent her over there. I think she’s kind
of interested in me, because I had busted somebody out of jai, too. So it
was kind of a brother-sister relationship. I got an awfully sweet letter
from her, and I've kept it for all these years.
Eric King: Where were Rita and Assata celled together?
Janine Bertram: At FCI Alderson in West Virginia. Like I said, there were
only two women's prisons 5o you were either in Alderson or .. 'm sorry,
there’s one person that's asked not to be associated with the Brigade, but
they kept her in jail in San Diego for years because there were only two
prisons and Rita, bo, was in one and I was in the other one.
g theages 1
ilyn Buck had joined a group that busted Assata out ofjail
and took the route down to Belize and over to Cuba. In fact, we kind of
followed that route in our minds, too, like if leave the United States, now
T'm going to follow that same route, if can get across the borders. You
know, they've got me blocked North and South now, though.
‘Eric King: Mark, T want to know about the same stuff I asked Janine. Was
the phone situation and the book situation the same there except for the
Turner Diaries?
Mark Cook: Yes, pretty much the same. We had fifteen minutes on the
phone, and they had a couple thousand people in prison, s0 you had to
wait your turn in men’s prisons. There was nobody ever blocked, though
sometimes they would censor you if you were on the phone talking. Most
of the time they did. There was one incident where somebody went over
their time, and he wouldn't come out when another prisoner was
knocking on the wall. He ended up killing a guy, and ended up doing
solitary confinement. Thomas Silverstein was his name, and he was in
solitary confinement at Leavemworth.
‘Eric King: You were there when Silverstein was there?
Mark Cook: Yeah, 1 was. Anyway, it was a struggle. | mean, we respected
each other, but there were some people that tried to bulldog or pressure
the younger prisoners, and it was a fight getting on the phone a lot of
times. You just almost had to know if you had your name on the list. We'd
ook out for you and make sure you got on the phone. The political
prisoners were very strict on that, supporting other people. We were the
ones that filed most of the grievances. We had the great anarchist Lorenzo
Kom'boa Ervin. He was a great anarchist in the federal system. He wrote
ook Anarchism and the Black Revolution. I don't know if you read that
one, but he gave me my first impression of what an anarchist was. Well,
actually my first impression was from Standing Deer—this is Leonard
Peltier's partner, they were both Souix—he was an anarchist, and he gave
me the best impression of what an anarchist should be.
T'm not knocki
/g bo. bo was part of the Brigade, and it was divided
not a solid, single person running through it It was Marxist-Leninist, it
was Panthers, there were anarchists, and so it all split up that way. But we
got together great. We just did our jobs, everybody knew what their job,
W et thecges
was to do. We got jobs done,
Eric King: Prisons seemed so different back then. There was so much
solidarity and respect for each other back then it seems. What was the
clothes situation? Because sometimes I see pictures, and it looks like
people are wearing their own clothes. Were you able to do that, both of
you?
Janine Bertram: Yes.
Mark Cook: More recreational clothes, they let us do that in Leavenworth.
Imean, in the federal men’s system we were given army surplus clothes,
‘mostly the olive colored clothes.
Eric King: And Janine, you were able to get in your own clothes, you said?
Janine Bertram: Yep.
Eric King: So how did that work, would your family or friends just mail it
in, and then they'd search it?
Janine Bertram: Yes, we were allowed, I think, three or four packages a
‘vear, and that was how you got your clothes.
Eric King: That's so neat. The next big question I'd like to know about is
how the administrations interacted with you—if there was repression, if
they were worse to you than other prisoners, if they did things
intentionally to make your time worse. Basically, how were you treated by
the guards and the administration?
Janine Bertram: For me, it depended on the various guards. There were
some that didn’tlike political prisoners, and so they would be a litle bit
‘more repressive, but for the most part 1 didn’t have any hassles from the
administration or the guards.
Eric King: Okay, sweet.
Janine Bertram: But of course I would have fought it. They don't like that.
Eric King: Janine, I believe Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans, and Laura
g theages S
Whitehorn were all at Dublin also. Were you there before them?
Janine Bertram: Yes, I'm pretty sure it was before.
Eric King: That’s awesome.
Janine Bertram: That's one of my regrets.
Mark Cook: One of the thoughts that slipped by me a while ago i Marilyn
Buck had helped break Assata out. When it was time for her to get out, Ed
and I had contributed $15,000 for her release when she got out. We went
down to Oakland, they had a big party and a lot of people contributed
‘money. So from the Brigade we gave them all that money. And we were
going to give $100 a year for each year a political prisoner was inside. This
s after we got out of prison. T know you're talking about while we were in
prison, but Tjust wanted to get that by, that we did things like that, even
for Larry Giddings, a guy who got broken while he was in prison, we even
gave him $1,000 when he got out. And like I said, just recently we did
Leonard Peltier the same way, so we look out for people. s been a long
time, and a lot of people have forgotten them inside, but we'll never forget
them.
Eric King: Are there still political prisoners that you all are actively
supporting today, who are still inside?
Mark Cook: Yeah, as much as we can. We don't have the money we had
before. Most of our support went to the California prisoners at one time,
but that’s a totally separate story. After we got out, we did some
‘miraculous work down there, and the prisoners did, too.
Eric King: 1 want to hear more about Rita being friends with Assata, and
you all being friends with Assata. That's wild history.
Janine Bertram: 1 didn't really have a relationship with Assata, although T
at one point got a letter through to her telling her how much her writings
meant to me when I was in prison. But Rita talked to me a lot about Assata
and, in fact, while I was in T heard that Rita had a lover, so T was quite
jealous and upset with that, and angry. Ilet her know that, and then she
told me who her lover was, and T was thrilled because it was Assata. T
mean, that was a great connection for her to have.
ot the cges
Mark Cook: Well I never had sociali
goodies but anyway.
ing inside, so 1 didn’t get none of the
Eric King: Janine, did you just say that Rita and Assata were partners
inside?
Janine Bertram: Yes.
Eric King: Were you and Rita togetherat that time?
Janine Bertram: Yeah, I mean, we were together until we were arrested.
Eric King: Ob, okay. And Mark, what were your interactions with Assata
like?
Mark Cook I didn't really have an interaction. She was a Black Panther
and we supported each other from prison to prison. Outside of that, we
had a circle while we were in prison, and we were able to write to each
other,illegally. They didn’t want us to communicate, so we changed our
‘names, and that pretty much did . T just used my initials. 1 was known as
MC and Ed Mead was known as Grace and Therese was called Calico. So
e were able to communicate in this circle. And when it came time for Ed
toleave, we were supposed to never be put together, me and Ed ..
Eric King: Were you guys at Sheridan together?
Mark Cook: That was the last time, yeah. That's where they made the
‘mistake and put us together.
Eric King: 1 don't know if everyone watching will know this, but there
have been members of the Brigade that we've lost over time, either early
in the days or even recently with Ed and bo. Are there any special
‘memories you all would like to bring up or talk about, or just things that
you feel about your lost comrades after prison?
Mark Cook: After prison, I associated with most everybody except John
Sherman. Twent down to California, in the Castro area, I think it was near
Oakland, something like that, and me and Therese hooked up there. We.
wrote letters back and forth until 1 got a chance to go down there during
our Panther—every five or ten years or somethinglike that all the
oty theges 7
Panthers in the United States try to meet down there in Oakland. So 1
went, I met with her down there, and over in Oakland I go to see boall
the time. Several times in Oakland 'd meet with bo. And of course Ed and
1, before Ed came back to Seattle, I went down to San Francisco and met
him and his partner down there. I never associated with John; there was
kind of an internal thing there. Ed met with him and visited him.
T've met with other prisoners, like the Attica Brothers, for instance. 1 met
with Big Black, and we actually got pictures together, and the Native
American movement person out of Attica, Splitting the Sky, came over. 1
was interested really in what they were doing after they got out of prison,
because when I got out of prison 1 immediately went into prisoner
support programs. But they were mostly speaking at seminars and things
like that. They weren't building a program like I thought they would. I was
really impressed the way they put things together inside that prison
during the Attica Rebellion, that was one of the best things I ever saw in
mylife, the way they could come together and discard all the aggravations
they had with each other, as in race and other things, and come together
that way. T saw that happen again in California—me and Ed spurred that
onin California—same thing where everybody came together. They had
the same grievances, and so they stuck together, and they made
agreement to have no more aggression against each other’s gangs or races
while this is going on.
Janine Bertram: What was the question? I can't remember.
‘Eric King: The question was if you wanted to talk about the members that
youall lost or memories you had with them, impressions about them
Janine Bertram: 1 have a lot of memories. I miss Ed, the most recent
Brigade member to leave the planet. We all spent quite a bit of time
together. Also, I guess I just mainly want to say that my comrades are
peaple that T absolutely down to my core can totally trust. 1 mean there is
1o way Tl get stabbed in the back. It's wonderful to have conneetions to
humans where you have that kind of relationship. Certainly with both
Rita and Ed 1 had that. Bruce Seidel, never met, so1
all. But they're important relationships, and they're really strong people.
idn't know him at
For example, when I got together with Rita, or when we met each other as
Wt thecges
friends and 1 was doing COYOTE and she and Therese were doing this
prison program at the women’s prison, Women Out Now, and Rita let me
know what a racist 1 was. 1 don’t mean I was an outrageous racist, but Id
grown up white.
Eric King: So you had internalized stuff.
Janine Bertram: Yeah, and I didn't understand that at all. And I feel like.
that was a fairly important lesson. But she had this very direct way of
talking that wasn't hostile, and I think that's something a lot of us don't
have those skills. I don’t have very good skills that way and she did.
Eric King: 1am still working on that. Did you all stay friends consistently
"
the entire time post-release and every!
Janine Bertram: Yeah, I mean she was I
living in California so it was limited contact, but whenever I was down
there I'would see them, or I would see Rita and once in a while would see
in California and Therese was
Therese.
Eric King: What about Ed?
Janine Bertram: Oh, yeah, Ed, we were in contact, and when he got out we
\were in contact and worked together on the Mark Cook Defense
Committee.
Eric King: I'd like to hear more about that.
Mark Cook: Ah, the great defense committee. They got a lttle bloody in
their advertising, They did this picture with a pistol with blood dripping
from it
Janine Bertram: That wasn't a good idea.
Mark Cook: And I said, “No." And Therese said, “No, that's a bad idea, Ed"
But he was strongly in support of us. I'll never forget Ed. It was just a
couple years ago that he passed away. I got his cane. He said if he died T
could have his cane. It's not very nice, but after he died I went to his wife
and said, “Ed said I got to have his cane.” Then I thought “Oh, what am I
doing?” She just kind of ignored me and walked away. I came up another
g theages 19
day, and she handed me his cane. Anyway, I was close to Ed, and bo, too,
Iwent down to see bo the day before she died. Her mind really wasn't
there. She'd look at me, and we'd keep asking her questions over and over
again. Her partner was taking care of her, and she asked, “What are you
going to tell Janine?” They were sending a message through me back to
Janine here in Seattle when I was in Oakland, and she said, “What are you
going to tell Janine when you see her?” She wouldn't say. We kept asking.
her the question, and finally she said, “Tell Janine Ilove her,” and that was
it. She died the next day. In fact, think she died that night while I was in
the motel getting ready to go back home. T'll always remember her. 1 mean
she was a real trip. She's a worker, she got things done. You know, she’s
the one that took me inside the women's prison for the first time in my
life and got me hooked up with Women Out Now and all the movements.
in Seattle
‘Then there was Ed. Ed was a real underground person who shouldn't have
lived aboveground. I don’t know why, but he was great. He had amind for
propaganda, building bombs, he had the movement in him and
everything. T just couldn’t stay away from him. Until the day he died I'was
with him. When he died, he had fallen the day before and broken some
‘bones. It was so painful, he couldn't move, and they had to get somebody
outside to give him enough morphine to get him in the bed. But the next
day 1went up to see him and to talk to him, and he couldn't talk. T just
remembered all the road trips we did together.
‘Eric King: That's very sweet. Thank you both for sharing those things
Janine, you brought it up a little bit at the beginning, do you want o talk
tous more about what COYOTE was and what it meant to you?
Janine Bertram: Well, when I was becoming a feminist I realized that, at
least in that era, women had to be either virgin queens or French whores.
T'm exaggerating a lttle bit, but I heard about COYOTE which had been
started by Margo St. James in San Francisco and that was the work 1
wanted to do, organizing. I was in the LGBTQ community at the time, and
Iwanted to decriminalize prostitution, now called sex workers. And it
means a lot to me to change societal attitudes and make revolution, so
COYOTE was part of that.
‘Eric King: Do you feel like where we're at now compared to where
B g thecages
COYOTE was then, do you see a big progress, do you see it returning, do
you see it only moving forward in regards to these issues?
Janine Bertram: You know, I hope it moves forward. In some ways it
seems like it's moving backwards. 'm not talking about the movement,
but if you look at general media it seems o be getting more racist, more
sexist, more backwards, and I think my hope is that that means people
will be encouraged to organize and develop and fight i
Eric King: Mark, I would like to ask about your time in prison in your first
case, before you became a political prisoner. Could you talk about Walla
‘Walla and how you organized within that prison? I want to hear all about
it to0. Don't hold back.
Mark Cook: Well, my first activism was against racism in the laundry, in
the workplaces, and it was something I was really strong in my heart
against. When Istruck out they threw me in the hole. They wanted me to
talk but T wouldn't talk to anybody. T wouldn't give them a reason why I
id what [ did, but when I came out, 1 got a pat on the back by prisoners
who said, “At least you tried.” But another instance came up where
prisoners had a choice to pick movies. This was in the carly time when the
prisoners could pick movies. Your Black or white or Native American,
your group could pick the next movie that's going to be shown on Friday
night. They picked a movie called 100 Rifles. You might have heard of that,
with Jim Brown and Raquel Welch. And the racist white prisoners sa
“No, no. That's not going to be shown in here.” So we just pressed it. We
said, “We're going to see the movie, or we're not coming out of our cells.”
So that was the beginning of my political action inside of prison, and we
ended up locking the prison down because we wouldn't come out of the
cells. The white prisoners went to work for a while, then they came and
said, “No, we're going to go along with you.” In my mind I said, “This is a
prisoners movement, a workers movement. We're working class.” And
this is when I started focusing. I started reading and trying to put things
together, and later on I met my buddy, Clem Blanchic, and he said, “We've
got to start a Panther group in here.” I said, “Well, what are you going to
do?” He said, “T'll write to Oakland to see,” and they gave us a chapter. We
were the second chapter outside of Oakland to start a Panther group. The
Seattle Panthers were the first ones, and we were the second ones. We had
the 10-point program, and the second point was about workers, so I stuck
oty theages 2
with that. That was my main theme. I worked long struggling with
everybody else, and 1 had a grievance against the warden. I can’t
remember what it was about, but I was determined to kill the warden
while Iwas in prison. So while at work there was some materials back
there, and I started getting pipes together, and I was seraping match
heads off. They used to give out cigarettes and matches, and I was filling
up that, and I figured nobody knew what I was doing behind this place
where I was painting. The Canadians came up to me and said, “Hey, we
know what you're doing. Don't do that. Come to us, and I want to talk to
you” Sowas on the yard one time, a big yard where everybody goes out
for recreation, and they’re against the wall playing chess. 1 go over and
talk to them, and they said, “If you keep your mouth shut we'll give you,
something bigger than that bomb.” So I said, “Okay, we'll give you some
help if you give us some help.” Now, these were two Canadians, there was
aMexican guy, and a Native American guy sitting in this little group here.
‘They said, “Don’t tell anybody what I'm telling you right now and don’t
tell anybody if you get involved with this. We will hurt you.” These are my
iends, so 1 said, “Okay, tell me a lttle about what you're doing.”
S0 they told me they were running this illegal underground newspaper
called The Bomb. How they made it, they had read some story by an ex-
World War II prisoner of war in Germany who, in order to escape, needed
printed identification, so they invented this lttle press to make this thing.
‘They're doing this in Germany, so they showed me how we could do it in
the prison and get away with it. We had all these picces together. 1 don't
want to go through the specific points right now, but we did put the press
together, and we printed these grievances that were going on in prison
that everybody could identify with. You didn’t have to be Black, white, or
anything else, the grievances were the same: You couldn’t wear hair on
your face, no mustaches, no sideburns, you had to wear long hair, etcetera.
we told them that’s one of our grievances. We're going to tell the
prisoners to start growing all your hair, growing all the hair you can grow,
the hair on your head, long hair, etcetera. So all the prisoners did it. We.
encouraged the head of our inmate advisory council, Big Don Cole, and
told him we wanted to do the same thing. He made a picket sign and he
walked around the yard with this picket sign saying “Do you care? Grow
your hair.” So everybody in the penitentiary was growing hair. There's no
Violations, they couldn't lock anybody up, so this is another move, this is
the the prop, the move, and I noticed that it was called, The Bomb. I said,
“Iwish we had a real bomb.” But it was called The Bomb, and it was
B g thecages
successful in what we were doing. Eventually, through this underground,
we controlled the prisoners. We wrote their constitution to change the
wway they were behaving, the way the prison was treating them, and the
prison agreed with writing this memorandum, trying to make changes.
We told them when we did it, we did the memorandum ourselves. Nobody
knew we were doing it. We pretended we were working aboveground and
said, “This is a bad agreement. You've got to tear it up and burn it in front
of the mess hall” So all the prisoners came down through the agreement
in then burned it up, and we made a better one. It was way 0o far,
shooting for the moon, and the administration said, “No, you're not going
to get none of that. You guys write it again.” So we wrote another one, and
for about three years it stuck in that prison and changed the whole prison
system, and nobody knew who us six were who were writing The Bomb,
underground.
But also T was a Panther at that time, and the first position of the Panther
is that we want to set our own destiny as for our community, so 1 plugged
that into what I was doing, I'm a Panther working with these Canadians,
who have no idea what a Panther is. There was another guy, one white
guy, and the Canadians were white too, but you kind of separate them.
Anyways, when I got out they finally had the thing moving, and 1 got
‘moved out to go to Seattle. That's when I ran across the George Jackson
igade. What we were doing in The Bomb, it was just a paper bomb, but
they were building a bomb, and we were also doing propaganda in that
paper. Ed was terrific at propaganda. I mean he's the greatest
propagandist in the world. He's doing propaganda, and to sell his
propaganda he needed The Bomb back. He didn’t know it was armed
propaganda. He created something totally different. In fact, it was a
‘month ago I think he said somebody in Europe had the same idea about
hitting a substation. They were union workers trying to get changes made
and it worked the same as in Seattle. Again, recently there was another big
substation explosion and the same thing happened. I don’t think we
started it, but it's a good idea to spread around. Obviously, if you want
attention you have to have armed struggle—not a gun going after
anybody, this is the explosion. You could do it with just plain fireworks,
huge fireworks, and do it, but Ed liked to get intolittle details of making a
bomb, putting the gun. He came to my apartment and showed me how to
build a bomb. He had a plate with a little gunpowder on it to show how
‘you hooked up his wires and the flash bulb and batteries, and how the
clock when the hand went around it contacted, and the little powder goes
g theages 33
poof. He said that's the way we're going to do it inside. But he showed us
he had the skills for that. 1 had the skills for organizing prisoners. For
three years I organized prisoners. This is the ps
started, but just shot ahead real quick.
oners movement we
Going back to prison, it al started really with that movie with Jim Brown
and Raquel Welch. They were telling us what we couldn’t do, but we're
going to choose our own destiny. It's kind of like what Harriet Tubman
said, I freed 300 slaves, and Id have freed more if they only knew they
were slaves.” Prisoners were the same way. In a sense, for that lttle
instance, we had freed prisoners, we started freeing them, and we could
have freed a hell of a lot more if they only knew they were prisoners. So
when I got out I started in the prison movement and kept it going tll the
very end.
‘Eric King: How many Panthers were there at Walla Walla?
Mark Cook: We had about twenty-two Panthers in Walla Walla. The
Seattle Panthers came in to meet us, and they brought a doctor named Dr.
Green, and he tested that whole institution for sickle cell anemia. That
was the first testing that had ever gone on in a prison. Back in Seattle, the
Panthers set up a clinic headed by Dr. Green, who was a doctor at the
University of Washington. He said, “What are you guys trying to do?” They
said, “We want a clinic here.* And they had the bandaids and whatever
little things like that. He said, “No, you guys need a real clinic. Just come
out to the University of Washington, back a truck up to that warehouse,
and Pl be waiting for you.” So they went over there and backed it up, and
he loaded them up with every thing—operating tables, ll the medications
and bandages, and took it all back to Seattle and set up aclinic that exists
to this day.
‘Eric King: 1 love hearing all this. Janine, Id like to talk about what it was
like when you got released? How was it finding housing, work, and then
what led to your work on the ADA?
Janine Bertram: 1 had a lot of support when I got released, t0o. 1 got
released to California and went to work for the prison parenting program
that we started in the prison. It was in Oakland. Actually, 1 had enough
community support that it was pretty much easy to find housing and
transportation.
B g thecages
Eric King: Did you struggle with work at all?
Janine Bertram: No. That's why I went to Oakland, because I had a job
there.
Eric King: 1 misunderstood, my bad. Will you tell us why you started with
the ADA, how you got involved with that and your role.
Janine Bertram: For one thing, I was becoming disabled. But Ihad a
partner in Washington, DC who was one of the leaders of the national
bility movement. So I got involved with writing and doing work on
bility rights.
Also, there’s a parallel between prisons and other institutions. If you look
at what our society wants to do with disabled people, it's lock us all up in
nursing homes. And nursing homes and psych facilities and prisons are
very, very similar. In fact, I think the abolition movement should really
expand to the other institutions in society, because they're all extremely
oppressive.
Eric King: Hell yeah. Thank you. Mark, can you tell us about the last
release you had, what that was like, how it felt to you, the support you
had, just things like that?
Mark Cook: Well, I didn't really want to gt released. I mean, 1 just did a
thirty year term with the feds, and I had two more lfe terms to do for the
state. It's consecutive. And T was just planning on doing lttle stuff inside
the prison, continuing the movement inside the prison. But Ed and the
people in Seattle decided they wanted me out, and they started a Support
Mark Cook organization, with a t-shirt and handouts. And it wasn't just in
Seattle, it was kind of around the United States. The money and support
came in from all around, and Id say we raised $20,000 ina really short
period of time. I was examined by two state psychiatrists inside, and
pretty much they said I should never be out. They hired a psychiatrist
from the streets, and he presented his position, and he said the paperwork
said the state’s using, those things are outdated. They don't use those
anymore. So finally the parole board said they would let me loose, but
never showed remorse for shooting that cop.
Before that ever happened, 1 had written a letter because I was back in the
g teages 3
roting the coges
adapted fron tne
We're not all waite and ve're mot ell men
8a1d a white male memper
of our collective
%o a liveral maoked media man
Wny struggle with
arus, tools, commie Q's?
aykos niggers cons
when you could slip awey with
left support action
or vague mass movement construction
1 can love
I can slip into class, bitch privilegs
love don't mean unity with another
privilege dossn't change alienation
Both mean slipping into derimess
elienation is msses of couples buying
coca cola end grapes at safevay
and omming own stereos t.v.'s and oribe
Just 1ike sluslords pizps I.2.2.
organized us
We will ais crganize
learn struggle and-skills
move ment action new ways
Vot the vegue vanguard
fo are & collection
of oppressed people turning
inside out with sction
this united few broakm
barriers of
Tace class sex
workers and luzpen
a1 going together
combatting dull saensss
corporations, governzent
and the cstabilished rule of
streight white cocks
I cannot be one
ting alone with my
11ttle tos outside the line
1ts both foot
whle body
aia't no turning back now
0 more mass mestings stale mating
action
Toving learning laboring
with @ few comradet
oh won't you harbor me?
Joining you sistan brother
is freedom, Sue, Assata
George, Jill, Kartin
Dew fanily being sane
emell, not like charlie's
leader ship
Wo are cozy ouddly
arsed and dangerous
and we will
Taze the fucking prisons
o the ground /GEORGE TACKSOK
BRIGADE
a poem from the
communique
released by the
Gearge Jackson
Brigade on
International
‘Women's Day
claiming
responsibility for
breaking their
comrade John
Sherman out of
police custody,
shared in the
underground
guerrills paper
Dragon, No. s, April
1976, published by
the Bay Area
Rescarch Collective
g thecages 27
state and I'm doing life—I'm never getting out—so I'm going to write to
this cop. And I tell him I never really intended to kill you, 1 just wanted to
get my prisoner out. That was in the letter, it was a long letter. But then
what happened was they said they didn’t want me out because I never
showed any remorse. My attorney nudged me about the letter, and 1 said
tha's just between me and the cop. s got nothing to do with the parole
board. She said, let them see it, so she got the letter—let them see it—and.
they looked at it and said we're going to turn you loose in one year if you
can act right. Pve never had an infraction for twenty-four years in prison.
Never one. Well, T had one, of course. Walking the wrong way on the grass
lawn. But anyway, that doesn't count. So they said one more year I'd get
out.
When I got out 1 was handed $5,000. It was a lot of money they put into
this thing, hiring psychiatrists and everything. They paid for them, but
they handed me $5,000. Ed was there, right up front. Ed was making the
propaganda, doing street theater, burning up a coffin out on the street. Ed.
was really a wonderful guy. You'd love to have met him. Anyway, I got a
place to stay, a car, they got me a job, so everything was swinging, and 1
was back into my prison movement again.
‘Eric King: A general theme that I've heard from you both is wild support,
like people really showing up, and the community really showing up. So
one of the viewer questions is essentially asking why do you think that
isn’t as strong nowadays? Prisoner support doesn't seem as tangible, as
voeal, as mobile, as it seemed to be in previous times. Do you have an
opinion on why that is or what could be done to improve it?
Mark Cook: The strongest movement out here has lasted for years, and it’s
progressing from the labor movement to unions, and we see it today
where this nut working with Trump has fired people. 1 a workers
movement, and i’s in greater demand now. The prison movement was
just part of it. That's what drew me into it, but the workers’ movement is
really pushing everybody now. All this money we make for people, and
they just keep it for themselves, never give it to workers. Everybody
should have a job, have an affordable job if they want one. The money is
there, and there’s a lot of work to be done, so this is aclass struggle. 1 wore
the wrong hat today. I have a class struggle hat and I should have worn it
But this is class struggle. The whole thing that we're talking about here,
you can water it down, but that’s where movement is headed, and
B g thecages
ly isn't jumping offinto it. Our politicians aren’t helping. All of
our politicians have been bought off by these promoters. They buy people
tolose, pay them to lose positions. I'm talking too much.
Eric King: You are never talking to0 much. Janine, the question was on
support. Did you get the same as other people in prison or do you feel like
you had more support than other people who weren't political prisoners?
Janine Bertram: 1 had way more support and I think its because of the
Seattle community. Because I was a political prisoner. Yeah, that's about
it. And I think that's true for you too, Mark. It wasn't just Ed and Cynthia.
Mark Cook: It was a movement outside, 100, and in Seattle.
Eric King: 1 don't know if you're still involved in the prisoner support
‘movement broadly, but do you feel that it is as strong today as it was
when you and Mark and everyone else were inside?
Janine Bertram: I don't know enough about it because 'm not i
with it. But T doubt that it's as strong as it was then, or at least in the
Pacific Northwest. And in the Bay Area it was very strong, and I don’t
think it is today.
Mark Cook I started when I got out of prison to this day I helped found
what we call the owlsmen, Organized Workers and Labors again. I'm back
on the labor thing, It exists and we have it every month. We meet
together, we're fundraising—we just pass a hat—and we have enough
‘money to keep this thing going every month. I mean, I'm in my 80s,
almost my 90 now, but I haven't stopped working toward this, trying to
push these people into a workers movement, the main thing to drive
country back where it should be. It's been taken over.
Janine Bertram: 1’ a class struggle
Mark Cook: Itis a class struggle. 1€’ the rich against the poor, and the poor
are generally workers, as a working class. T know it sounds a litle dry to
say something like that, but have never given up on that, and I'm just a
part of this movement.
Janine Bertram: Eat the rich!
ity theages 29
Mark Cook: Yeah, eat the rich and kick their ass for the working class!
‘Eric King: Mark, I don't know if you'll remember this, but about nine years.
ago you were in Denver for a political prisoner conference and Lynne
Stewart was there, Kazi Toure was there, and my wife was the
photographer for that. She’s got all these pictures of you with Lynne
Stewart.
Mark Cook: Oh yeah? I was reading the letter just a couple days ago that
she sent me. She’s passed now.
‘Eric King: Yeah, do you have any memories of Lynne Stewart? Did you
guys get to spend time together?
Mark Cook: Like I said, just a couple days ago I was re-reading a lot of
letters that were sent to me when I got out. had never read some of the
letters. Maybe they have money in those things! But I've been sitting
down reading with some people. Yeah, Lynne Stewart, I used to have a
picture up on my wall with prisoners and her.
‘Eric King: Did you ever meet her, Janine?
Janine Bertram: No.
‘Eric King: Do you feel like there were movement lawyers back then, that
backed you all up, or was it just the community support?
Janine Bertram: Community support, although they would pull lawyers in
if they were needed.
‘Eric King: What about you, Mark?,
Mark Cook: Well, lawyers were really close to my movement. In fact, I
ended up working in the public defender’s office when I got out.
‘Eric King: Did either of you two ever wi
for Prison Legal News?
Mark Cook: O, that was Ed's paper. When I got to Monroe, I worked with
it t00. And Paul Wright is the one that heads it up right now. We're kind of
sour on Paul, but he made it something that probably reaches more people
B g thecages
than we could have reached in prison. We wrote it for prisoners, by
prisoners. That was never to leave the prison. It was like The Bomb,
something prisoners created. But it's out now and I've even heard judges
who are applauding it. Some of the stuff we put in it made a synopsis easy
for prisoners to find in the PLN.
Eric King: 1 was just curious because I knew Ed wrote it, and it is huge
inside right now. T knew twenty or thirty people that had subscriptions.
Mark Cook: They fought us through hell trying to keep us from printing
that thing, It started off kind of an underground thing, and we got it going,
Me and Paul Wright, before I got out, we got together and we filed a class
action suit and the court said we're not taking that as a class action suit.
They were changing the laws in Seattle and making things hard for
prisoners, so we decided we're going to o in the underground what you
call a boilerplate complaint, and we had to do a lot of underground work,
breaking into the offices, then getting the printer rolling and set up, and
spreading it around the state of Washington to tell the prisoners to mail it
to this court, Finally, the court said all ight it’s a class action, so last great
‘movement before I got out of prison. Yeah, Paul Wright got out later on,
he was in Seattle for a while, and he comes back every once in a while to
Eric King: Janine, what would you like people today to know about
consequence awareness or what prison is like, what your prison
experience was like, what other people could expect? What would you say
to young radicals today?
Janine Bertram: I'd say, don't just talk about revolution, make one. think
prisons are getting worse, and that fighting and organizing is more
important than ever. Basically I agree with Mark about class struggle
being the issue, and worker organizing. Organizing in prison with other
prisoners as workers is a really great thing to act on. But outside, make a
revolution and take over.
Eric King: When you were doing your actions, Janine, was prison ever at
the front of your mind? Were you prepared or expecting to go inside?
Janine Bertram: I don’t know if it was ever at the front of my mind, but I
certainly was aware that it was a good possibility.
ot theages 3
‘Eric King: Did that ever scare you? Were you ever like, “Oh, 1 don’t want to.
do this,” or was it all...
Janine Bertram: 1 never thought that I could hardly wait to get there, but
no, it didn't really frighten me. It just was what it was.
Mark Cook: The pain of prison, that’s what 'm afraid of. The pain. 'm not
just afraid of . If there’s no pain, it doesn’t bother me at all I've lived
forty years of my lfe or more in prison—two-thirds of my life—so T know
it well. Tknow that rotten son of the bitches are in there, and I know
there’s some good people that want to help you. And T know its the same
way when 1 look at the prisoners. There’s prisoners who want to help and
then other prisoners who are working against them constantly.
‘Eric King: Mark, would you have a message for young radicals today about
what to expeet, or what prison was like, or anything along those lines?
Mark Cook: There has to be a smoother transition from prison out ino the
working class, and that slavery thing they have is causing more crime
than they realize. If they had a smooth transition from prison right into
society—not from slavery, but having people paid for work they're doing
inside. If they come out they're going to be looking for more a raise in
salary, s0 when they come out it could be much smoother. You talked
about the sex workers. If that’s not going to get them anywhere in life
there ought to be some kind of smooth transition built for women to get
into work before going into that, s0 they can move on up. That will kill
erime in alot of ways. You always find people who profit from erime are
generally those upper class people. 'm telling you, they never go to jail,
but they make millions and billions breaking the law. The lower classes
won't break the law if they have a job. We're working class people from
cradle to grave. If you want to go, go that way, and you'll find time to have
fun and play, too.
‘Eric King: 1 was really shocked when I got out, because 1 was in the
halfway house for just a lttle bit, but I was really shocked to see how
‘many people were released from prison with nothing—no money, no
clothes, no toothbrush. And then the only jobs they could get were.
standing out in the cold holding a construction street sign, or janitors. And
that's what you just reminded me of, that there is no pipeline to success
from there.
S g thecages
Mark Cook: Exactly. And they have the money for it. They throw money
away on some of the dumbest stuff If you get rid of prison or complain
about prisons, they've got prisoners working making more money from
the taxes they're getting from the prisoners. Pay them a fair wage. They
just don't see that far.
Eric King: 1 was paid $15 basically a day. I made $12 a month. I don't know
ifthat was the same when you all were in, just miserable wages.
Mark Cook: Yeah, if anything.
Eric King: Before we go I would like to ask if you all have anything going
on right now, anything you want to talk about or promote, now would be
agood chance just to put that out there.
Mark Cook: Well, they've got a good movement going right now. They
don't know it in that place where the healtheare worker, or healtheare
giant, was killed, and where Elon Musk is firing hundreds of thousands of
people, there's a movement going right there, i they just give it support
There's some people saying stay away because i’s violent, but they got
the attention. They didn't want to do it. They didn’t want to get the
attention that way, by shooting somebody in the back, and they didn’t
for burning up cars, because theyre not getting anything out of
burning up those cars, but they’re making a loud voice that has been
heard, and people could hook onto that just like Vietnam or anything else
and move. They've got a good thing going. I’s happening
where they're finally attacking the upper class, and the working class is
doingi. 1’s a hard job getting across, too. T wish Ed was back. He'd get our
armed propaganda going again.
different areas
Eric King: 1 love it. 1 was really proud to see Kansas City, where I'm from,
historically it hasn’t always showed up in those ways, so when I saw the
Tesla dealership burning in Kansas City, I was so happy. Well done,
hometown, well done.
Mark Cook I tell you that is armed propaganda.
Eric King: Yeah. Get after it, get people involved, get peopl
what's happening.
g theages 33
Janine Bertram: Yes.
‘Eric King: Janine, do you have anything going on, anything you're work
on or anything you want to talk about?
Janine Bertram: No, I don't have anything to say.
‘Eric King: Fair enough. One last question. We have a viewer question
asking are there any groups right now that you're inspired by or seeing?
Because to them it feels like the working class has kind of gone right and
isn’t leaning left, maybe like it did in the past. So is there anything along
those lines you're secing or feling?
Mark Cook: No, no. I've been looking, too. I've been looking for it, secing
how I can help, because I always got a lttle bit of money to throw that
way when something is happening
‘Eric King: Janine?
Janine Bertram: 1 like to see things happening and I think it is going too,
right-wing, but also maybe it's heightening of contradictions, so I keep
‘being hopeful, thinking there will be more organizing because of the
predomi
ince of the right-wing. But there’s just a lot of pain to get there.
‘Eric King: When you all went in, there wasn't really the internet, so do you
feel that today the internet has helped spread class consciousness and
struggle, or do you think it's been a det
and propaganda?
iment because of ll the bullshit
Mark Cook I hate to be judgmental, but that's just what I was thinking,
that i’s causing more problems. People aren't getting out, they're looking
at their hand, they’re walking to a bus and looking at their hand.
Janine Bertram: People aren't talking to cach other.
Mark Cook: They're walking down a manhole. I mean yeah, they're not
looking up and seeing what's happening in the world, what's happening to
them.
‘Eric King: I was really shocked when I got out to see, like obviously I was
S et thecges
around when the internet was around, but I was really shocked to see the
proliferation of far-right bigotry and hate, and just how normalized it had
gotten because of memes and the internet and stuff like that. It was really
startling to me.
Sobefore we go, Ijust want to thank you both for real. 1didn’t know about
the George Jackson Brigade before I went inside, but when 1 was reading
the books and reading the zines, reading Ed's book where he's talking
about getting a gun smuggled in to fight racism. The way that you all
carried antiracism and class struggle and all those things together, and
acted on them, I think s just unbelievably inspirational, and I hope that
people take what you all did, not just what you said but did, and carry
those things forward. I’s just been a real honor and a pleasure talking to
both of you for real. Please people, write prisoners, write someone inside
today, support them. Thank you both so much.
Libertie Valance: Thanks, yall. I’ been a huge pleasure. T was furiously
‘making notes on things to read up on after the conversation. 1 hope
everybody has a great rest of their day. s been a fantastic talk. Thank
‘youall so much.
oty theages 3
People, Places, Events, & Organizations
George Jackson — revolutionary prisones and Minister of Defense fo the Black
Panther Party. During his frst years at San Quentin State Prison, where he was
imprisoned at age 20 for sealing $70 from gas station on sentence of one year
acquainted with the works of Mars, Lenin, Mao, snd Fanon. On Janary 17,1970,
aprison officer shot and killed three Black prisoners during a set-up fight with
membess of the Aryan Brotherhood. Following theiassassinations, thirtcen
black prisoners began o hunger strike n the hopes of securing an investi
Agrand jury was convened three days late that exonerated the prison guard
afer permitting no black prisoners o testify. Thirty minutes after the grand
juy decision, another prison guard was thrown offa cll-block tertohisdeath,
and George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and john Clutchette -ywho came to be
Ko as the Soledad Brothers —were indicted. Many revolutionaries would join
the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee, such us Angela Davis who would
become the leader of the committee and frend to George who sent her the book
Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson. On August7,1970, George.
Jackson's 17-year-old brother Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County
courtroom with an automatic weapon, reed prisoners three prisoners, including
Ruchell Magee, and ook a judge,district atorney, and three jurors hostage to
demand the release of the Soledad Brothers. olice killed Jonathan, the jude,
and wounded three others i the ensuing chase. On August 21,197, George
pulled a5 mrm pistol from beneath a wig and said: “Gentlemen, the dragon has
come;” quoting Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, and ordered prisoners’
cells apened, escaped o the yard, and was murdered by guard from a guard
tower. George finished writng the book Blood in My Eye, wehich was published
in 1972, jus days before his scape and death. Blood in My Eye is a masterpicce
of urban guerrilla theory, political economy, and theories o armed Black
liberation
BPP 10 Point Program — 1. We want freedom. We want power (o determine the
destiny of our black and oppressed communities. 2. We want full employment
for our people. 3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalist of our black
and oppressed communities. 1. We want decent housing,
huuman beings. 5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature.
of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true
history and our role n the present-day society. 6. We want al Black me to be
exempt from military service. / We want completely frec health care for all black
and oppressed people. 7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and
murder of black people, other peaple of color, all oppressed people inside the
United States. 5. We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression. . We want
freedom for all Back and poor oppressed people now held in U, federal, state,
county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for
ll persons charged with so-called erimes under the laws of this county. 10. We.
it for the shelter of
S g thecages
want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s
community control of moder technology.
EdMead — a revolutionary guerrilla o the George Jackson Brigade, julhouse.
laveyer, prison organizer with Men Against Sexism, and founder of Prison Legal
News. Ed greve up in rural Aluska and spent time i and out of youth
imprisonment. While in federal prison in the 60s for a pharmacy burglary
(guilty) and an escape attempt from jal (innocent), Ed seriously committed
himself o jailhouse lawyering and also came across radical Marxist and
anarchistlterature which enabled him intelligently to choose sides. After his
release Ed traveled to San Francisco to *join the revolution,” hoping (o conneet
1o revolutionary groups, which he did, and returned to Seattle with new-found
skills Upon returning to Seattle, Ed consulted with his good friend Bruce Seidel,
awho was also doing prison work in Seattl. They resolved to enact their politics
of confrontation under the name of the George Jackson Brigade. Ed was captured
during an unsuccessfil bank expropriation, convicted, and sentenced to two
consecutive life sentences. Ed was sent o the Washington state penitentiary at
‘Walla Walls, where he organized Men Against Sexism, which successfully fought
against prison rape and sexism. Ed was s seasoned jailhouse lawyer and
prodigious journalist inside, founding The Red Dragon in the 705, The
Abolitionist in the 805, and Prison Legal News, which still exists and is the
Iongest running prison newspaper n the US. Once released in 1993, Ed worked
tirelessly with revolutionary organizations and prisoner support groups, and
worked tielessly to free his comrade Mark Cook. Ed published the zine, The
Theory and Practice of Armed Struggle in the Northwest: A Historical Analysis
‘and the book Lumper: The Autobiography of Ed Mead. Along with Mark, Ed is
also s contributor to Ratling the Cages: Oral Histories of North American
Political Prisoners.
Bruce Seidel — a member of the George Jackson brigade and committed
revolutionary who died fighting, Bruce became active in anti-war activities at
University of linois at Urbana in the late 1960's. He told friends he was beaten
by police during a demonstration in Chicago, and others say he was beaten by
police after smashing a police car window in Washington, D.C, during the May
Day “Stop the Government” demonstations in 197, Arriving in Seattle from
linois, Bruce immediately became active in anti-war activities, organizing on
the University of Washington campus, joining demonstrators camping on the
federal courthouse Lawn in 1972, taking up signs in peace marches. By carly 1972,
Bruce had moved out of campus organizing and into the “workplace,” learning o
trade as a welder a Seattle Opportuities Industrialization Center. This
cconomics student, friends say, wanted to “proletarianize the proletariat” and
felt he had to work with them to do so. At the same time, Seidel had become
intensely involved prisoner support projects. He showed up at Monroe State
Reformatory to help with a “consciousness raising” program for white prisoners,
and soon helped launch a prisoner newspaper called Sunfighter. Bruce chose
oty theages 37
the following words from George Jackson as an introduction to his last
testament days before his murder in a shoot out with the police during a GIB
bank robbery. “There will be specisl page in the book of life for the men
(women) who have erawled back (rom the grave. This page will tell of utter.
deeat,ruin, passivity, and subjection in one breath; and in the next
averwhelming victory and fulfllment. o take care of yourself and hold on.”
John Sherman — & member of the George Jackson brigade and revolutionary.
John was a former cellmate of Ed Mead's on MeNeilIsland Peritentiary and «
fellow Washington State Prisoners Union member. £d and Jobn had first met in
MeNel Island Penitentiary, then again on the outside at the Steilacaom
Prisoners Support House. Afterwards, John got a job doing research and.
development on missiles at the Bocing plant in South Seattle. A member of the
Revolutionary Union by this time, Party leadership assigned Sherman to
clandestinely-organized workers i his new "shop floor.” At the time individuals
who joined the RU (later Revolutionary Communist Party) were issued a rifle;
when it became clear that other members didn't intend to use theirs, John grew
impatient with the organization and quit the paty. Their effort,on January 23,
1976, in the small South Seattle suburb of Tukwila, resulted in the death of
Seidel, the wounding of Sherman, and the arrest of both Mead and Sherman. In
the winter of 1975, the Brigade attempted to rob a bank vault in the small South
Seattle suburb of Tukwila, which resulted in the death of Bruce, the wounding of
John, and the arrest of both £d and John. Joha's repeated visits to Harborview
Hospital to have his face surgically reconstituted presented an opportunity to
free him. March 10, 1976, Cook jamimed a pistol i the back of Sherman's police
escort and informed hir: “U'm taking your prisones.” Joh was liberated as
planned, but police picked up Cook a few days ater. By the fall of 1977, the
Brigade fel sulliciently powerful to head back to the Seatile area. They bormbed
the Capitol Complex n Olympia in support of striking prisoners at Walla Walla,
committed several bombings in an attempt to bolster the suto machinists
union, and set off another pipe bomb at & Mercedes- Benz dealership in
retaliation for the deaths of three Red Army Faction merbers in Stammheim
prison in West Germany. On March 21, 1975, Junine Bertram, John, and Therese.
Couper were arrested at a Tacoma hamburger chain just before executing
another robbery. John was sentenced to 20 years in prison, thousgh he would
escape once in 1979 to be re-arrested alter 2 years on the run.
Leonard Peltier — a Native American political pisoner serving two conseeutive
life sentences for crime he was set up for —the killing of two Bl agents. In the
carly 19705, Native Americans on the Pine Ridge Reservation were assaulted and
murdered by a group of vigilantes and looked towards the American Indian
Movement (AIM) for help. Hundseds of AIM members oceupied the village of
Wounded Knee in Pine Ridge in 1973, demanding an end to the US.-backed
murder and intimidation of AIM supporters on the reservation and that the
treaties signed by the U.S. be honored that gave the Lakota people the right to
5 g thecages
ederal authorities surrounded
self-rule the land surrounding the Black Hill,
the oceupation with an army of over 300. The Indians refused to back dov.
‘They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces for
Leonard came to Pine Ridge with a few other AIM
5 and set up camp in the village of Oglala to protect the village:
from vigilantes. On July 26, 1975 two FBI agents drove into the property
unannounced and unidentified, and a firefight erupted. leaving the two FB1
agents and one AIM member dead, while scores of FBI sgents and U.S. Marshals.
surrounded the property. s believed that the attack against the AIM activists
wvas an attempt to create a diversion for secret agreement to transfer parts of
the Pine Ridge Reservation to the federal government. With fabricated evidence.
and preventing Leonard from claiming self-defense, Leonard was convicted to
twolife sentences in federal prison. The struggle for Leonard's reedom finally
won, and Leonard's life senten
beginning on February 18, 2025. Leonard wrote the book Prison Writings: My
Life Is My Sun Dance.
e was commuted to home confinement
bobrown — bo was a revolutionary and member of the George Jackson Brigade.
bo was working class butch lesbian in the Seattle area when un 1971 she got
busted for stealing from her boss and did 7 months of a one year and one day.
sentence in Terminal Iland federal penitentiary, where she learned a whole lot
about racism, queer hating, mean police,junki
After her release, bo got involved with the politicallesbian and prison struggles
on the streets. bo worked on lots of different projects with childres
men, and ard World peoples but prison work was always the most important in
her life. According (o a short autobiography,
places talk about the revolution, but nobody did anything except talk. The BLA
‘and Assata were working their asses off but nobody in Seattle did a thing, Then
the SLA stormed over the ruling class's toes and met a fiery death; still nobody
did anything Then the GJB started happening right under our very noses—it
‘made sense to me that you just can't talk rockefeller et al. into giving up what
they have stolen from the people. | knew it was time for me to put my words.
into action.” ba was known as the "gentleman bank robber,” because she would
case and rob banks in drag. bo was captured on November 3, 1977, while casing o
bank in North Seattle and spent & years in federal prison, notably along with
Assata Shakur and Lolita Lebron. Alter her release, bo became committed to
prison abolition struggles, becoming founding mother of Out of Control
Lesbian Committee to Support Women Political Pisoners and also working
regularly with the All of Us or None as wellas the Prison Activist Resource
Center in Oakland, California where she lived. bo passed away on October 24,
2021.A documentary sbout her lfe, The Gentleman Bank Robber: The Story of
Butch Lesbian Freedom Fighter ita bo brown, was released i 2017
‘and other such facts of .
heard alot of folks in ot of
independentistas — Puerto Rican revolutionaries who figh for the
decolonization of Puerto Rico. One of the main independentista groups was the,
g teages
‘Armed Forees of Puerto Rican National Liberation —a Puerto Rican clandestine
guersilla organization that, through direct action, struggled for a Puerto Rico
independent of US colanization. The FALN was founded in the 19608 and was
one of several organizations established during that decade that promoted
clandestine armed struggles against the colonial forces of the Usited States. The
FALN was founded following decades of persecution by the FBI, including illegal
imprisonments and assassination against members of the Puerto Rican
independence movement. Throughout their actions, the FALN would strusggle
for the freedom of political risoners from the previous generation of
independenistas. In 1999 the sentences for 16 captured FAL political prisoners
were commuted by Bill Clinton. £l Eféreito Popular Boricus / Los Macheteros
would succeed the FALN in the armed struggle.
AIM — an Indigenous liberation movement founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota
in July 1968 t0 address police bratality, poverty, and violence and discrimination
against Native communities. They organized for treaty rights,sc
determination, and the reclamation of tribal land. AIM sctivists organized and
advocated on behalfof Indigenous communities and in the carly 1970 led
provocative marches, such as Trail of Broken Treaties, and occupations like that
of the abandoned federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island organized by seven
Indian movements, including the Indians of Al Tribes, and the protests,
occupation, and armed stand of at Wounded Knce on the Pine Ridge reservation.
“The group met fierce resistance from local and federal v enforcement agencis
and COINTELPRO operations.
Tom Manning — an anti-imperialist revolutionary and member of the Sam
Melvill Jonathan Jackson Unit, later known as the United Freedom Front
(UFF), which conducted sabotage, expropriations, an attacks agains profitee
‘and symbols of American imperislism in support of global anti-colonial
struggles in the 19705 and 19505 As a youth, Tom shined shoes, aised pigeons,
and joined the military in 1963, where he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay and
n Vietna, Tom was sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery and
assoult some time after 1965. Tom credits these years for his decp politicization
through interactions with other prisoners. Ater going underground with his
wife Carol as part of the UFF, Tom, Carol, Ray Luc Levasseur, Patricia Gross,
Richard Williams, Jaan Laaman, and Basbara Curzi, who came to be known as
the Obio 7 were captured after the longest munhunt in New Jersey history. Tom
was sentenced to 58 years in federal prison for his role in killing a police officer
and the UFF bombings. Tom died in 2010 after more than 30 years in prison
where he contined to struggle to the end. Tom's revolutionary artwork is
featured prominentlyin the political prisoner writing and art collection Hauling
Upthe Moraing / Lzando Ia Maiana: writings & art by political prisoners &
prisoners of war in the US. edited by Ray Li Levasseur and Tim Blunk, with an
introduction by Assata Shakur, and also in the book For Love and Liberty.
W et thecages
Jaan Lasman — an anti-imperialist evolutionary and member of the Sam
Melville/ Jonathan Jackson Unit,later known as the United Freedom Front
(UF).Jaan was a college student SDS activist, and ater he was imprisoned for o
bombing of Nixon's re-clection headquarters from 1972-1976. He was n Attica
prison and learned from the leaders there, including Sam Melville, but he was
released shortly before the uprising. He headed back to Boston and began to
work with Kazi Toure, Richard Williams, and Barbara Curzi. They fought racism
and made a historic concert for the South African struggle, the Amandla
Concert. Jaan taught self-defense in the Amandla People’s Securiy.
Circumstances forced them intolife underground. The Ohio 7 and Kazi Toure
were accused by the government of 19 armed attacks on military bases,
corporate head quarters, and South Arican representatives in the US. The
believe that it is necessary to be able to attack Us. imperialism on many levels
with force and clarity. Imprisoned with a 8 sentence, Jaan understood that
captivity is just another aspect of the struggle. One of the many projects he
sworked onin prison was 4strugglemag, revolutionary anti-imperialist prisoner
‘magazine to which he contributed his writings.
Bill Dunne & Larry Giddings — anti-authoritarian politieal prisoners imprisoned
for an attempted 1979 prison break from King County Jail in Seattle. Bill and his
former co-defendant, Lary, were accused by the police of being “members of
small, heavily armed group of revolutionaries” associated with the Wellspring
Communion. Based primarily in San Francisco, Wellspring engaged in radical
leftist political outreach, merging the ideas of communism and anarchism.
‘Though active mainly i the Bay Arca, the organization was said to have
practiced guerrilla training in Humbold: County. The group-—once known as
‘Tribal Thumb —was sccording to media reports an offshoot of the
Liberation Army with membership having backgrounds in SDS, the Weather
Underground, Black Panthers, Black Liberation Army, and other guerrilla
groups, though none of this has ever been confirme. Prior (o their arrests,
another aceused member of Wellspring, Artic Ray Baker, was arrested for the
‘murder of a border inspector. On October 14, 1979, seven prisoners including.
Baker escaped the high security jail after capturing the guards and taking over
the jail’s control room. Waiting for the escapees in cars were Billand Larry. As
escaped prisoners climbed into Bil's car, an officer opened fie,injuring Bill and
killing one of the escapees,after which Bill crashed the car and was arrested.
‘While the police were detaining those who fled aftethe crash, Larry
approached, a gun battle ensued, and Larry and one officer were wounded. Larry
wvas captured a lttle while later and req
in 2004. Bill s still imprisoned, though he has continued his political activities
inside, including organizing prison mugazines such as Prison News
mbionese
ed two lfe sentences. He was released
‘Assata Shalur — a Black revolutionary and a member of the Black Liberation
Army (BLA) who eseaped from prison and lives free as a maroon in Cuba. Assata
became involved with Civil Rights protests while in community college in New
g theages 0
York City in the mid-1960s. After graduating from CCNY, she moved to Oakland,
California, where she joined the Black Panthes Party (BPP), working with the
party to organize protests and community education programs. Ater returning.
to New York City, Assata led the BPP chapter in Harlem, coordinating the Free
Breakfastfor Childsen progeam, free clinics, and community outreach. Assata
joined the BLA, an offshoot of the BPP whose members were inspired by Third
World liberation struggles, engaging in guerilla warfare against the US.
government for Black liberation. On May 2, 1973, Assats, along with Zayd Malik
Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were involved in a shootout with the police, during
which Zayd was killed and Assata was wounded. Ater Assata's capture, between
197 and 1977 she was indicted ten times, resulting in seven different criminal
trials. On November 2, 1979, Assata, alter ix years of imprisonment (where she
birthed her daughter, Kakuya Shakur) escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility
for Wormen in New Jers
visiting her drew concealed 45-caliber pistols and a stick of dynamite, seized
two correction officers us hostages, commandeered a van and (with the
assistance of members of the May 19 Communist Organization) made theis
escape. Despite one of the argest police and FBI manhunts in history
made her way to Cuba, where she continues to reside today. Assata is the author
of the books Assata An Autobiography and many articles and poeme.
when three members of the Black Liberation Army
Assata
Marilyn Buck — an anti-impesialist revolutionary who was imprisoned for her
participation in the 1979 prison escape of Assata Shakur, the 1981 Brinks robbery,
and the 1983 U, Senate bombing, Marilyn joined Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS) during the height of activism against the Vietnam was while a the.
University of Texas. In 1967 she moved to Chicago where she edited the SDS.
newsletter New Left Notes, and incorporated Marxist feminism into the
organization's politics.In San Francisco, she worked with Third World Newsreel,
media collective that showcased anti-imperialist and anti-colonialis struggles.
around the world. Convicted for purchasing ammunition for the Black
Liberation Army in 1973, she was sentenced 1010 years in prison, furloughed in
1977, and went underground instead of returning to prison. After her capture
and convictions in 1965, she was sentenced 1o 80 years in federal prison, where
she wrote on women in prison, soltary confinement, political prisoner support,
and revolutionary poetry. Masilyn passed away on August 3, 2010, Marilyn's
selected paetry, Inside/Out was published in 2012.
Lorenzo Komvboa Esvin — a Black revolutionary anarchist.As a youth street
gang member in the segregated South, Lorenzo joined the NAACP youth group
when he was 12 and taok part in the 1960 sit-in protests. Alter being drafted snd
serving two years i the US army (where he was a Vietnar anti-war organizer
and was court-martialed), he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC)in 1967 shortly before it temporarily merged with the more
militant Black Panther Party (BPP).In the wake of the urban Black rebellions.
that rocked the U.S. after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in the
A2 et thecages
spring of 1968, an attempt was made to lrame Ervin on weapons charges and for
planning to killa local Klan leader. In order to escape prosecution in these
charges Ervin hijacked a plane to Cuba in February 1969. It was while in Cuba
and later in the then-Republic of Czechoslovakis, that he first became.
disillusioned with state socialism, recognizing it as dictatorship period, not the
“dictatorship of the proletariat” as various Communist governments claimed. In
Prague the Cechoslovak capital), Ervin was betrayed to U.S. officials by pro-
CIA clements left aver from the Dubeek regime shortly after the Sovi
of the country. Briefly captured and held at the American Consulate, he fled to
East Berlin where he was kidnapped by a special team of by American and West
German special agents sent to recapture him. He was drugged and tortured
during interrogation in the basement of the U.S. Consulate for almost a week,
and after almost dying from this mistreatment, he was legally brought back to
the U.S. where it was flsely announced by the State department and the FBI in s
press conference that he had “turned himselfin” at JFK airport. Alter a farce ofa
trialin a small town in Georgia, where he faced the death penalty before an all-
white judge, jury, prosecutor and defense attorneys (sppointed by the court),he.
wvas sentenced to the rest of his life in prison. Ervin remained politically active
in prison where he was first introduuced to the ideals of anarchism in the late
19708, He read many books on the subject sent by prison book clubs, and the
Anarchist Black Cross, an international prisoner support movemen, adopted his
case. Also in prison, Ervin wrote several Anarchist pamphlets that are probably
the most widely read writings on anarchism and the Black liberation moverent.
Anarchism and the Black Revolution is still popular, and has gone through
Several printings. He was also involved in many prison struggles, the carly 19705
prison union organizing campaigns and the Black prisoner movement or that
period. Becatse of years of soltary confinement and prison mail censorship, his
case was kept in obscurity, and it was not until he was one of the “Marion
Brothers,”a group of prisoners who became well known as they struggled
against the first Control Uit at Marion Federal Penitentiary, that his case
became a public concern. Ervin's own legal challenges and an international
campaign eventually led to his release from prison after 15 years of
Standing Deer — an anarchist Chocktaw and Oneida Indigenous revolutionary
‘and political prisoner. Standing Deer was born in Oklahom in 1923.The son of
an Oneida mother from Wisconsin and Choctarw father from southwestern
Olahoms, he learned to speak both Choctaw and Oneida, the languages spoken
by his paternal and maternal grandmothers,respectively, belore he spoke
English. As young adult, Standing Deer was arrested several times for a
‘umber of minor offenses and received his first prison sentence in 1963 ten
vears for interstate trafficking of counterfeit money. Alter his release in 1970, he
was sentenced to another twenty-five years in the state penitentiary in
Olahom for armed robbery and larceny involving the thefl of an automabile
During that sentence, he spent o year n solitary confinement for his
g teages 43
involvement in prison siot on July 27, 1972, He escaped on April 29,19
he hijacked a bus transporting him (o another prison and remained
underground until police apprehended him in Chicago on April 6, 976, After his
arrest in Chicago, Wilson faced indictments on seven felony charges, facing up.
to seven lfe sentences. Standing Deer was sent to the U.S. Penitentiary super-
maximum-secusity prison in Marion, linois. While n the Marion prison, Wilson
suffered from degenerative dise discase, high blood pressure, and diabetes. On
May 17,1978, according to Standing Deer’s account, chief correctional officer
Carey entered his hospital roorm with a well-dressed white man who claimed
that he could obtain medical treatment and parole for Wilson i he would help
“neutralize” Leonard Pelier: Standing Deer would belriend Peltier throvgh the
prison's Native American cultural group, convince Pelier that he had the means
‘and material to help him escape from prison, then prison offcials would kill
Leonard Peltie during the escape attempt. Standing Deer agreed to his role in
the plan after which Oklshoma suthorites dropped the warrants that they held
on him and on June , they cancelled the pending trial and released him from the
hospital. In Coming Home, an excerpt from s public message that he wrote in
1994, Standing Deer relayed the significance of meeting Peltier: " That]
transformed my lie, brought me home to my People, and put me dead in the
middle of the political struggle for the survival of my People.” He deseribes the
events of that and the following day as spiritusal and political cleansing and
transformation. As he approached Peltier that day, he could sense the love,
respect, and commitment Peltier radiated and recognized his scars as piereings.
and flesh offerings from th e (a sacred Lakota ceremony outlawed by
US. institutions such as the Bureau of Indian Allairs and the Bureats of Prisons).
Standing Deer confessed his role in the government plot to assassinate Peltier,
and became an active and outspoken advocate for prisoners and political
prisoners,in particular for their religious, physical, medicl, and intellectual and
educational rights. In 1984, Standing Deer, Leonard Peltir, and Albert Gaza
fasted for 42 days to draw attention to the deplarable conditions at FCI Marion,
. when
un Dan
Linda Evans — an anti-imperialist political prisoner for 16 years, and before her.
imprisonment she was involved in many organizations, including Students for o
Democratic Society, the Weather Underground, and the May 19th Commaunist
Organization. She was captured in 195 and convieted for her part in the
Resistance Conspiracy Case. Her sentence was commated by outgoing president
Bill Clinton in 2001 Linda was imprisoned at various jils, inchuding the DC jal
and FC1 Dublin. Since her release, she has co-founded All of Us or None, a
grassroots civl rights organization of formerly incarcerated people and their
families, and she works tirlessly with California Coulition for Women Prisoners,
the Drop LWOP Coalition, the Immigrant Defense Taskforce of North Bay
Organizing Project in Santa Rosa, and the successful campaign to ree Dr.
Mutulu Shakur. Along with her pastner Eve Goldberg, Linda wrote The Prison-
Industrial Complex und the Global Economy.
S et thecges
Laura Whitehorn — served almost 15 years in high security federal prisons for.
her involvement in the anti-imperialist armed actions that culminated in the
Resistance Conspiracy Case of the mid-1910s. She serve time at the Baltimore
City Jail the DC jail, FCI Lexington, FC1 Alderson, FC1 Dublin (then called
Pleasanton), and the high security unit in Marianna, Florida. Laura was involved
in anti-imperialist organizations including the Weather Underground
Organization (WUO) and the May 19th Communist Oganization, and rights and
AIDS support groups. Since her release at the turn of the
involved in a number of causes including campaigns to free political prisoners
and is a cofounder of Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP),a community based
organization founded and led by formerly incarcerated people and family
‘members. Laura edited and wrote the introduction for The War Before: The True
she has been
Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison and Fighting
for Those Left Behind and wrote the introduction to Victoria Law’s Resistance
Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women. She and her parter, the
writer Susic Day, participated in a prison, labor, and academic delegation to
Palestine in 2016
Attica Brothers — the Attica Rebellion was a September 9, 197 rebellion by
thousands of prisoners a the New York state prison. Answering Georg
Jackson's call in his writings for prisoners to take a revolutionary role, prisoners
at Attica organized around a list of 27 demands regarding improvements in
living conditions that were lefl unanswered. Many prisoners, like Joseph Litle,
wwho told a government panel,"I'm not for no penitentiary reform. 'm for
abolishing the whole concept of penitentiary reform,” sav the prison as site of
revolutionary warfare. New York Governor Rockerfeller and President Nixon
ordered hundreds of state troopers and prison guards to take back the prison
with force, leaving 10 correctional officers and 29 prisoners dead by police fire.
Many prisoners were assassinated after the siege for their organizing, like white.
revolutionary Sam Melville. On September 17, the Weather Underground
launched a setaliatory attack on the New York Department of Corrections,
exploding a bomb near the commissioner's ffice. The communiqu
accompanying the attack called the prison system an example of "how a society
run by white racists maintains its control,” with white supremacy being the
‘main question white people have to face.” Survivors of the Attica rebellion were
Known as “Attica Brothers,” especially those facing legal trouble in the
aftermath.
Frank “Big Black” Smith — a Black revolutionary prisoner at Attica State Prison
swho, along with other prisoners, led a rebellion against the injustices of the
prison system which remains one of the bloodiest civl rights confrontations in
American history. Ater the riots, his participation in which led to his torture by
officers, he kicked a drug addiction and worked as a substance sbuse counselor.
He also devoted his life to becoming the voice of his fellow prisoners in o 26-year
Iavesuit against New York state. Smith later became an advocate for the
g thecages 45
Forgotten Vietims of Attica, a group comprised of surviving hostages and
relatives of the dead prison guards who were believed to have been encouraged
to accept limited benefits which barred then from suing the state. Smith.
married in 1959, studicd to be a paralegal, and worked as an investigator for
lawyers. He passed away at 70 years old in Kingston, North Carolina, after a long,
batle with cancer. He is survived by his wi
bringing Big Black and Splitting the Sky into prisons to build political
consciousness. “Around that time, the documentary about the Attiea uprising,
simply called Attica, was released. Using my NLG connections, we obtained
copy of the film, and over a period of time brovght various Attica Brothers to
Seattle for showings. We'd screen the fim a places like the University of
Washington, generally raising something in the neighborhood of fiftcen hundred
bucks for the Atica Brothers Legal Defense Fund in the process. would help.
put these events on for the NLG, but while these comrades were i town I would
also bring them into Monroe under the banner of the WPLU to show the
documentary to the prisoners For instance, we brought Big Black and Splitting
the Sky in ike this. Afer the showing, the comrades would answer the conviets”
questions about the Attica uprising’” (Ed Mead, Lumpe).
earl. £d Mead remembers
John “Splitting the Sky” Boncore — Mohawk/Cree revolutionary prisoner at
‘Attica state prison who also, along with other prisoners, led the Attica rebellion.
Splitting the Sky grew upin poverty after his father died in work accident and
was removed from his mother's care and sent to foster care where he was
physically abused and ended up homeless ater fighting back against one of his
oppressive foster parents. Sent to the juvenile reformatory center in Elmira for
robbinga sub shop out of desperation and unger after seeping on the sr
New York City. In August 1973, the age of 19, he was transferred to Attica prison
to serve the final months of his sentence. Splitting the Sky vividly remembers
how the rebellion began, "We came to. stop and there was maybe about cight
guards there. Then there was this tal,black brother, who was a known Panther,
he said to the captain, ‘Why'd you lock thern brothers up last night?' The captain
said, I don't know fellas, but we'lllook into it Then the brother said, You're
fiscking full of shit honkey! and he punched him right in the mouth nd knocked
him dowen.” “That's when Sam Melville] came out from somewhere and kicked
him in the side of the ribs. And that's when I turned around and yelled “Take this
motherfucking place now!" and it was just like a spark and a praisie fire” The
feve dozen prisoners in the corridor with Sam and John, including Richard X
Clark, L. D. Barclay and Tommy Hicks, overpowered the guards and sipped dovn
a gate separating them from their brothers in other blocks. Within minutes
prisoners had control of most of the prison” (Lestie James Pickering, Mad
‘Bomber Melvill). After the brutal state repression of the rebellion, and despite a
legal defense mounted by famed attorney William Kunstler, Spliting the Sky
was convicted in 1975 by a jury of the murder of a prison guard, whom he denied
attacking as was claimed, and was sentenced to 20 years to lfe n prison, but
was granted clemency in 1976. Splitting the Sky later oined the American Indian
6 et thecages
Movement and participated in actions such as the the 21-day Gustafsen Lake.
StandofTby First Nations land claims activists n British Columbia.
Prison Legal News — Prison Legal News (PLN) is a monthly American magazine
and online periodical published since May 1990, the longest running newspaper
produsced by and for current and former prisoners in U.S. history. It was started
by revolutionary £ Mead, political prisoner imprisoned for his activities with
the George Jackson Brigade, and extremely successful jailhouse lawyer. PLN has.
been involved inlitigation concerning First Amendment and censorship issues
in the prison and jail context since 1994, Co-editor Ed Mead was prevented from
ews due 0.8 condition of his parole
prohibiting association with other felons —a policy specifically enacted to
assisting in publishing Prison Legal
prevent him from further involvement with PLY.
g theages 47
ical Prisoners Mentioned in This Conversation
Bill Dunne #10916-086
FCI Butner Medium 11
Federal Correctional Institution
P.0.BOX 1500
Butner, NC 27509
g thecags
Support Political Prisoners.
As you've heard & read, it is vital that we support the political prisoners
of our liberation movements. Providing support builds bridges across and
through prison bars, giving those locked inside a connection to the
outside world. Your support matters.
Get involved. Write to a political prisoner—a simple letter provides a
needed escape. Visit them in prison. Ask what a political prisoner needs
and do what you can to help them. Offer them support.
Visit the NYC Anarchist Black Cross website (nycabe.wordpress.com) and
learn more about those currently imprisoned for political reasons.
Buy a Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners calendar
(certaindays.org).
Visit your local Books Through Bars group and send books to those
incarcerated (booksthroughbarsnyc.org/resources).
Join your nearest Anarchist Black Cross group (abefner).
Visit rattlingthecages.com to learn more.
g theages 4
Rattling the Cages
1) Political Prisoners, Mass Incarceration, & Abolition
Eric King, Herman Bell, David Gilbert, Susan Rosenberg
2). Continuing the Struggle Inside & Out
Eric King, Ashanti Alston, Ray Luc Levasseur
3) Antifascism Behind Bars.
Eric King and David Campbell
4)Black August & Prisoner Support
Eric King, dequi kioni-sadiki, Harold Taylor
5) Eric King in Conversation with James Kilgore
Eric King, James Kilgore
6) Post-Prison Activism & Archiving Resistance
Eric King, Jake Conroy, Claude Marks
7) Until All Are Free
Eric King, Jason Hammond, Jeremy Hammond
#) Revolutionary Women Behind Bars
Eric King, Linda Evans, Laura Whitchorn, Nicole Kissane
9) Becoming Politicized in Prison
Eric King, Josh Davidson, Hector Rodriguez, Farhan Ahmed
10) Rattling the Cages: How We Dit It & How You Can Too
Eric King, Sara Falconer, Josh Davidson
1) Abolition Is a Family Affair
Eric King, Sharon Shoatz, susie day, Rochell Bricker
12) Looking Back at the George Jackson Brigade
Mark Cook, Janine Bertram, Eric King
all conversations are available @FirestormCoop on youtube
S et thecges
ationg the cages
o
linktr.ee/rattlingthecages
InthisRattling the Cages panel talk, Eric King
speaks with former political prisoners and
George Jackson Brigade members Janine
Bertram and Mark Cook. Perhaps the most
prolific of the revolutionary groupsin the
Pacific Northwest, the George Jackson
Brigade described itself as, “We are cozy
cuddly / armed and dangerous / and we will |
razethe fucking prisons / to the ground.”
FORESTORM DK