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15th Anniversary of the 1993 Lucasville Uprising


2008 Lucasville Project Events
15th anniversary of the 1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising.
Ten men died. Five men are on Death Row and many more are serving additional sentences.
The story of the Lucasville Five is a textbook case for what is wrong with the death penalty. The ease with which the state has been able to bring these men to the point of execution will make any viewer want to rethink not only the justification for these convictions, but the legitimacy of the death penalty itself!

Download the ACLU Toolkit
Download the script for “Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising”
Attend a Lucasville Justice Project Event

Check out the tour dates

News Coverage
Staging Controversy – “Lucasville” raises awareness of questions about 1993 uprising
By John Patrick Gatta, The Youngstown Metro Monthly
July 2008

Local play ‘Lucasville’ slated for NYC Fringe Fest
The Youngstown Vindicator
June 8, 2008

Play about Lucasville prisoners cheered
By Sharon Danann, The Workers World
Apr. 25, 2008

Take Action!
Get involved in the state-wide campaign.
Urge Governor Strickland to investigate these wrongful convictions.
Go to www.acluohio.org and Click on Lucasville Justice Project.

Lucasville On Tour
Check out the tour dates
The next national production of Lucasville will be Sept. 25, 26 & 27 7:30 pm in The Plymouth United Church of Christ at 424 Monte Vista Ave, Oakland, CA
For information call: 510-654-5044 or email:

THE UNTOLD STORY: How a Deadly Prison Riot Becomes a Play Documentary by Mockrevolution

2007 Lucasville Project Events
Lucasville – A play by Staughton Lynd and Gary Anderson
In the tradition of The Exonerated comes Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising. However, the subjects of this play are still sentenced to be executed, still struggling against injustice. Lucasville is written with the cooperation of the 5 men who were sentenced to death for their alleged roles in the 1993 uprising that rocked the maximum-security prison in Lucasville, Ohio.
ACLU of Ohio


Playing the five prisoners in Lucasville are (L-R), Christopher Fidram (Jason Robb), Lessley Harmon (James Were), Sam Perry (George Skatzes), Clyde Holmes (Siddique Abdullah Hasan) and Kunta Kenyatta (Keith Lamar).

2007 P lay News & Reviews

Prison Helps No One
Daniel Sturm Interviews Staughton Lynd
By Daniel Sturm, Z Magazine
June 1, 2007

Civil rights attorney Staughton Lynd co-wrote the play
By Guy D’Astolfo, The Vindicator
April 26, 2007

‘Lucasville’ exposes judicial corruption
By Jamie Fabian, The Youngstown Jambar
April 26, 2007

Play challenges death penalty views; local man plays killer in Lucasville
By Joe Pinchot, The Sharon Herald
April 25, 2007

Lethal Injection – Ohio’s Shame
By Jonathan I. Groner MD, OSU Children’s Hospital
April 25, 2007

Lethal injection is excruciating, study says
By Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch
April 24, 2007

Plays portray courtroom drama
Kathleen Keish, The Athens Post
April 20, 2007

Ghosts of Lucasville
A divisive new play says five prison rioters have been wrongly sentenced to death
By Jordan Gentile, The Other Paper
April 19, 2007

OU grads to meet again Tuesday at one of their executions
By Nick Claussen, The Athens News
April 19, 2007

Elaine Brown speaks on Lucasville Five case
By Sharon Danann, The Workers World
Apr 19, 2007

Darrow Day: 150th birthday of fiery rights lawyer honored
By Grant Segall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
April 19, 2007

Darrows birthday celebrated
By Angelique McKowan, The Warren Tribune Chronicle
April 19, 2007

Plays about Lucasville riot, Clarence Darrow spotlight
death penalty

By Daniel Sturm, The Athens News
April 16, 2007

The politics of life and death
An inmate’s fate often hinges on luck of the draw
By Dan Horn, The Cincinnati Enquirer
April 15, 2007

Staged trials
By John Benson, Funcoast Entertainment Guide for Sandusky
April 14, 2007

Referendum to End the Death Penalty in Ohio
Letter to 195 Prisoners on Ohio’s Death Row
Kunta Kenyatta & Laurie Hoover, Prisonersolidarity.org
April 14, 2007

Support Education And Not Death Row
By James Conway, Prisonersolidarity.org
April 14, 2007

Letter in Support of a Referendum
By Alva E. Campbell, Prisonersolidarity.org
April 14, 2007

Averting the Criminalization of Communities
By Thomasina W. James, Prisonersolidarity.org
April 14, 2007

Guard’s family speaks out on play
By Ryan Scott Ottney, The Portsmouth Daily News
April 12, 2007

Play commemorates SOCF riot
By Ryan Scott Ottney
, The Portsmouth Daily News
April 11, 2007

Staging an appeal
New play invites another look at convictions that followed rioting at Lucasville in 1993
By Michael Grossberg, The Columbus Dispatch
April 11, 2007

Death on Stage
The truth about the Lucasville uprising
By Daniel Sturm, The Cincinnati City Beat
April 11, 2007

Play about Lucasville riot touches a nerve
John Caniglia, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
April 11, 2007

Mortality Play
By Rick Claypool, The Toledo City Paper
April 11, 2007

Play depicting Lucasville uprising on tour
La Prensa (
Ohio & Michigan Latino newspaper)
April 10, 2007

Kinsman to honor Clarence Darrow with day of events
By Rebecca Sloan, The Vindicator
April 9, 2007


Columbia play focuses on SOCF riot
By Jeff Barron, The Portsmouth Daily News
April 7, 2007

Story of Lucasville Prison Riot Made Into Theatrical Production
New Play Reveals ‘Untold Story’ From Inmates Point of View
Jim Otte, WHIO-TV Dayton
April 6, 2007

Desperately Seeking Justice
A Handful of Supporters Re-examines the Conviction of the Lucasville Five
By Charu Gupta, The Cleveland Free Times
April 4, 2007

Former Black Panther Party leader to speak on case of Ohio death row inmate
By Rick Claypool, The Toledo City Paper
April 4, 2007

Plays examine death penalty
Cincinnati Enquirer
April 2, 2007

Fourteen years since the seizure of L-Block
Interview with Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Part I)
By Martha Grevatt, Workers World
March 29, 2007

Fair and impartial aggravated murder

By Staughton Lynd, The Columbus Free Press
March 28, 2007

A Vast Tapestry of Lies
By Bomani Shakur (AKA Keith LaMar), Prisonersolidarity.org
March 3, 2007

Federal judge trounces Ohio prison system
By Sharon Danann, Workers World
Cleveland
Feb. 22, 2007

To My Brothers Known As “The Lucasville Five”
By Ali Khalid Abdullah, Prisonersolidarity.org
Feb. 17, 2007

Death penalty opponents protest at state prison
Protesters promoted the cause of prisoners charged
in the Lucasville riot.
By Don Shilling, The Youngstown Vindicator
Jan. 15, 2007

Inmate says paroled prisoner lied about Lucasville riot
The Associated Press
Dec. 29, 2006

A Condemned Man Speaks Out
TCPs exclusive interview with Siddique A. Hasan
Rick Claypool, The Toledo City Paper
Oct. 25, 2006

Life from Death Row
Rick Claypool, The Toledo City Paper
Oct. 25, 2006

Historian Staughton Lynd on the
1993 Lucasville Prison Uprising

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now
Oct. 20, 2006

Staughton Lynd tells the hidden story of…
The Lucasville Prison revolt
By Patrick Dyer, Socialist Worker
Oct. 20, 2006

Freedom sought for Lucasville Five
By Sharon Danann, Workers World
Oct. 19, 2006

In Defense of Siddique Abdullah Hasan
By Staughton Lynd, Prisonersolidarity.org
Oct. 10, 2006

 
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“Lucasville” in the News
Cleveland Plain Dealer
The two-hour play begins in the prison during the riots and ends in the courtrooms, when five men — Jason Robb, George Skatzes, James Were, Carlos Sanders and Keith LaMar — are convicted. In it, the authors accuse a key informant, Anthony Lavelle, of killing Vallandingham with members of his gang. Lavelles testimony eventually convicted Robb, Skatzes, Were and Sanders of that killing.
Youngstown Jambar
“Ninety percent of the play is based on actual court transcripts and other documents involving the case.”
Athens Post
The two shows are legal dramas, but they carry a message that criticizes capital punishment policies in the United States. Ohio has had the second highest execution rate next to Texas since 2004.
Columbus Other Paper
Lynd got some powerful ammunition to back up his criticism of the prosecution most notably the recantations of two Lucasville inmates whose testimonies the state used to convict some of the riot leaders of murder. Both witnesses now say the prisoners they took the stand against are innocent and that they testified to
the contrary only because prosecutors pressured them to do so.

Lucasville On Tour
Check out the play dates
The next national production of Lucasville will be Sept. 25, 26 & 27 7:30 pm in The Plymouth United Church of Christ at 424 Monte Vista Ave, Oakland, CA
For information call: 510-654-5044 or email:

Staughton Lynd on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!
Nine prisoners and a hostage officer were killed. A surrender was negotiated, and no sooner was the surrender negotiated with various prisoner spokespersons than the state of Ohio turned around and began to build death penalty cases against those very leaders and spokespersons. They didnt care who had really done things. They wanted to nail the leaders so that no prisoner would ever have this idea again.

Focus
Time to End the Barbarity
By Siddique A. Hasan, Prisonersolidarity.org
Sept. 18, 2006


Lucasville killer testified on riot; now he walks
By John Caniglia, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Sept. 4, 2006

Who killed Officer Vallandingham?
By Staughton Lynd, Prisonersolidarity.org
June 10, 2006

“If I snooze, I lose my life”
An interview with Keith LaMar
By Kevin Lowery, Prisonersolidarity.org
May 20, 2006

Why the Outrage?
By S. A. Hasan, Prisonersolidarity.org
May 3, 2006

New discoveries about the Lucasville uprising
Staughton Lynd, The Columbus Free Press
Feb. 7, 2006

Travesties of Justice: An interview with S.A Hasan
By Daniel Sturm, Columbus Free Press
Feb. 5, 2006

Induced Failure
By S.A. Hasan, Monthly Review Zine
Sept. 30, 2005

Interview with Siddique Abdullah Hasan
By Daniel Sturm, The Free Press
Aug. 18, 2005

The Lucasville Follies
A Prison Riot Brings Out the Worst in the Press
By Bruce Porter, The Columbia Journalism Review
May/June 1994

Tell the Governor: No More Executions!
The ACLU of Ohio, together with Ohioans to Stop Executions and other local anti-death penalty groups, is launching a postcard campaign to urge Governor Strickland to stop executions.

Ohio draws criticism for drawn-out executions
Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch
May 26, 2007

Ohio Inmate took twice as long to die
By Julie Carr Smyth and Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Associated Press
May 26, 2007

Prisonersolidarity Spring 2007 Newsletter
Prisonersolidarity.org

May 20, 2007

No Parole Rule Rescinded in Ohio!
Alice Lynd, Prisonersolidarity.org
May 18, 2007

Prisoner-assisted homicide – more volunteer executions loom
Amnesty International USA
May 17, 2007

The American Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
By Sam Provance, ConsortiumNews.com
March 27, 2007

Governor grants Spirko reprieve
By Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch
March 27, 2007

N.H. House rejects repeal of death penalty
By Norma Love, Associated Press
March 27, 2007

Abolish the death penalty
The Chicago Tribune (Editorial)
March 25, 2007

Governor faced with life, death decisions
Capital penalty a heavy burden’
Aaron Marshall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
March 23, 2007

Everyday Struggles of a (Self-Defined) Political Prisoner: An Interview with Jason Goudlock
By Siddique A. Hasan, Prisonersolidarity Co-Founder
Jan. 4, 2007

Race, geography can mean difference
between life, death
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press
May 6, 2005

Ohio’s Abu Ghraib
By Daniel Sturm, Znet
Aug. 3, 2005

Prison Advocacy in a Time of Capital Disaccumulation
By Staughton and Alice Lynd, The Monthly Review
August 2001

The Lucasville Follies
A Prison Riot Brings Out the Worst in the Press
By Bruce Porter, The Columbia Journalism Review
May/June 1994


Elaine Brown, former chairwoman of the Black Panther Party, talks on Thursday in the Student Union Building.
Photo:
Sarah Alfaham
Independent Collegian, The Student Publication of the University of Toledo


Prison Forum Coverage
June 10 , 2006, Youngstown State University
Keynote speech, news coverage, conference photos, and more

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About Prisonersolidarity.org
The Internet site Prisonersolidarity.org serves as a catalyst for communication between prisoners and people on “the outside.” It publishes updated research, news, opinion pieces and educational material from activists, writers, prisoners, and the concerned public. Prisonersolidarity.org is a movement that grew out of the Youngstown Prison Forum. In the last decade, Ohio has had one of the largest per capita growths in prison spending in the United States. And in the rustbelt city of Youngstown, a growing (state and federally funded) prison industry has parasitically fed the economy since the steel industry’s collapse. While we’re based in Ohio, Prisonersolidarity also incorporates a discussion of national and international trends. We invite contributions from around the U.S. and abroad, and especially encourage submissions from prisoners, and from people wishing to discuss how their communities and families are affected by the prison industry. What are your views and concerns? Make your voice heard. More

Prisonersolidarity In The News

The Cleveland Free Times
Though Hasan is still in jail, he’s busier than ever. The 44-year-old writes and receives dozens of letters in his supermax cell. He needs to convince more people that he was convicted on jailhouse snitch testimony that’s since been recanted or contradicted, and without the advantage of alternative witness accounts.
So almost every day, Hasan writes. He posts regular missives on a Web portal, prisonersolidarity.org (which he also edits), to communicate between prisoners and those on the outside. And he constantly sends letters to possible supporters. Read full article

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