Tribal Thumb and Prisoner Rights Wars

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Abstract

hile the prison reform movement was full of ex-cons who created dual identities as revolutionaries and crusaders for the prison reform cause, there was much general sympathy and support for the movement both inside and outside prison walls. Many San Francisco political groups joined the prisoners’ rights bandwagon — including the SLA and the little-known but very important Tribal Thumb group, a twenty-five-member bank robbery and revolutionary group led by ex-con Earl Satcher. Satcher had served eighteen years in prison for armed robbery, assault, and illegal gun possession.The prison labor movement originated at Soledad Prison and then spread to Folsom State Prison, where prisoners held a seventeen-day strike in November 1970, seeking the legal minimum wage and workmen’s compensation benefits for inmate workers.The movement got play for a good part of the decade. However, in 1977 it was effectively shu

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t down by a Supreme Court decision that refused to extend First Amendment constitutional protection to prison unions. The idea of the prisoner as revolutionary caught the public imagination and was fueled by the writings of Soledad prison inmate George Jackson, founder of the inmate revolutionary group known as the Black Guerrilla Family. Jackson became known for his inspiration in spite of his incarceration. Jackson had been convicted of robbing a gas station of seventy dollars in his early teens and was given an indeterminate sentence of one year to life. His books, Soledad Brother and Blood in My Eye, offer riveting tales of black oppression and are highly regarded by historians. Prison guards at San Quentin killed Jackson on August 21, 1971, in what the state claimed was an escape attempt. Many witnesses said Jackson was not trying to escape and that the guards were looking for an opportunity to “get” him.</article></body>

Tribal Thumb and Prisoner Rights Wars

Folsom State Prison Strike For Better Wages and Compensation

Photo by Ron Lach for Pexel

Excerpted from Housewife Assassin-The Woman Who Tried to Kill President Ford (Diversion Books) Feb. 2023

The goal of the strong and multi-ethnic prisoners’ rights movement in San Francisco that evolved in the 1970s was to improve the treatment of prisoners and ensure that they could earn decent wages. At the time, California inmates who were allowed to work were earning very little — between two and sixteen cents an hour. Programs were also developed and staffed by volunteers to educate prisoners, both while behind bars and when released, to try to prevent recidivism.

While the prison reform movement was full of ex-cons who created dual identities as revolutionaries and crusaders for the prison reform cause, there was much general sympathy and support for the movement both inside and outside prison walls. Many San Francisco political groups joined the prisoners’ rights bandwagon — including the SLA and the little-known but very important Tribal Thumb group, a twenty-five-member bank robbery and revolutionary group led by ex-con Earl Satcher. Satcher had served eighteen years in prison for armed robbery, assault, and illegal gun possession.

The prison labor movement originated at Soledad Prison and then spread to Folsom State Prison, where prisoners held a seventeen-day strike in November 1970, seeking the legal minimum wage and workmen’s compensation benefits for inmate workers.

The movement got play for a good part of the decade. However, in 1977 it was effectively shut down by a Supreme Court decision that refused to extend First Amendment constitutional protection to prison unions. The idea of the prisoner as revolutionary caught the public imagination and was fueled by the writings of Soledad prison inmate George Jackson, founder of the inmate revolutionary group known as the Black Guerrilla Family. Jackson became known for his inspiration in spite of his incarceration. Jackson had been convicted of robbing a gas station of seventy dollars in his early teens and was given an indeterminate sentence of one year to life. His books, Soledad Brother and Blood in My Eye, offer riveting tales of black oppression and are highly regarded by historians. Prison guards at San Quentin killed Jackson on August 21, 1971, in what the state claimed was an escape attempt. Many witnesses said Jackson was not trying to escape and that the guards were looking for an opportunity to “get” him.