Sinclair In The Hole
JACKSON, Mich. — John Sinclair, noted dopeo-revolutionary and former rock whiz, has been thrown into the “hole” at Southern Michigan Prison here, allegedly for masterminding a strike which did not begin until he had already been separated from the prison population for a week.
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Sinclair In The Hole
JACKSON, Mich. — John Sinclair, noted dopeo-revolutionary and former rock whiz, has been thrown into the “hole” at Southern Michigan Prison here, allegedly for masterminding a strike which did not begin until he had already been separated from the prison population for a week.
John, now Chairman of the Central Committee of the White Panther Party, was transferred to solitary confinement on Tuesday, November tenth, though word of this did not reach the general public till over a week later. On that Friday, he went before the Jackson trial board, charged with the heinous crime of “typing radical literature on his typewriter.” In the course of the board hearing, according to WPP National Chief of Staff and John’s brother, David Sinclair, the pigs accused Sinclair of “masterminding all subversive (italics ours) activity in the prison system”, supposedly including not only Jackson but also Marquette where the famed psychedelic gangster was incarcerated until recently. (John had originally been sent to Marquette because of allegedly inspiring similar unspecified acts.)
On Tuesday, November 17th, a general strike began in the penitentiary, a strike which involved over 85% of the prison populous. The strikers demanded $1.00 a day in wages, compared to the paltry 65 cents or less they now receive. According to David, John first heard of this over radio headphones while in the hole.
On the same day, the trial board sentenced Sinclair to an indefinite term in the hole, saying that he will have another hearing sometime in December to determine whether he will stay there. (The conspiracy trial of Sinclair, WPP Minister of Defense Pun Plamondon and Deputy Minister of Education Jack Forrest begins January 26th in the Motor City.) Sinclair is presently deprived of all of his books and personal effects, has no change of clothing and cannot leave the cell at all. He has been on a hunger strike since being put in solitary.
Sinclair added, “Perry Johnson, warden at Jackson, and brutal enemy of the people, is responsible for this latest step in the persecution of John.”
