Reflections on Social Justice and the Prisoner Struggle

In memory of Attica Brothers Akil Al-Jundi (1941-1997) and Herbert X. Blyden (1937-1997) I would like to reflect on the accomplishments of social justice from the standpoint of my experience as a contributor and occasional guest editor of this remarkable journal. My association with Social Justice goes back to my graduate school years at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in the mid-1970s, when Social Justice emerged as a beacon of enlightenment for my student comrades and me as we searched for radical theoretical alternatives to the then still prevalent functionalism (we invited Tony Platt as a guest speaker to our campus). Social Justice also helped me to interpret and consolidate my Vietnam War-era experience at the Ohio State Reformatory where, as alternative service, I taught existential philosophy and literature to young robbers, burglars, sex offenders, and a demographic assortment of drug "criminals." Social Justice inspired prison leaders as well, including one of my college students at the Texas Ramsey Unit who was a key witness in one of the most important prison litigations in American history - the Ruiz v. Estelle class action suit of 1979. Not surprisingly, Social Justice came immediately to mind when I decided to seek a way to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Attica rebellion. My experience editing this issue (Vol. 18, No. 3) afforded me the opportunity to interview principals of the Attica rebellion and the attorneys involved in the subsequent civil suit, and to relate their observations to Social Justice readers. The Editorial Board gave me considerable latitude in conceptualizing and executing the volume, and the expert editorial and production work of Greg Shank and Suzie Dod Thomas made the enterprise truly enjoyable. As we approach the 30-year anniversary of Attica, I would like to reflect on that rebellion as a great watershed in American penal history by recalling the observations and analyses of Michel Foucault (in a 1972 interview by John K. Simon), New York life prisoner David Gilbert, and Attica Brothers Frank (Big Black) Smith and Akil Al-Jundi. The latter two I interviewed at the Brooklyn law offices of Elizabeth M. Fink, the chief attorney for the Attica Brothers civil law suit. I will use their observations as a pivot to look back at the circumstances of the rebellion itself and to assess developments since 1991. Akil Al-Jundi, serving a sentence of 20 years to life for murder when the Attica rebellion broke out, soon emerged as a leader of the Muslim contingent guarding the hostages. He was severely wounded in the bloody takeover, suffering life-long injuries. At the time of the interview, Akil was the Attica Brothers Defense Fund information minister and a paralegal for the New York Legal Aid Society, a position he held since 1976. In his advocacy for young criminals, Akil gained the profound respect of everyone in the Manhattan criminal justice system. Big Black, a plaintiff and Attica yard leader, was severely beaten, burned with cigarettes, and threatened with death in the days immediately after the prison takeover. After parole in 1973, he worked for over 20 years as Elizabeth Fink's paralegal. My interview began with a blunt question: "What did Attica accomplish?" Considering the subsequent turn of the screw of repression, "was the rebellion in vain?" Big Black's reply was quick, unequivocal, and specific: he listed many legal and administrative reforms the Attica struggle accomplished. Admittedly, some of these, like limited "inmate self-government," were short-lived. Others, like the lifting of censorship restrictions on prisoner correspondence, conjugal visits, and regular telephone access, continue to ease the "pains of imprisonment." Some reforms died only under recent political assault, such as New York's Prisoners' Legal Services. Akil was more abstract and philosophical in his reply: "No rebellion, no revolt, no uprising, no riot - whether in prison or outside - is in vain. …