On 11 October 1972, approximately fifty people who were imprisoned in the Washington DC jail seized control of a cellblock and held twelve officials hostage.
Protesters, who were mostly or all Black, told Washington Post journalist William Claiborne: “We want you to understand one thing very clearly. This is not a riot, it’s a revolution.”
Conditions in the prison were notoriously bad, but the prisoners demanded their freedom rather than improvements. The Evening Star reported that one man said “We’re treated like animals, and we want out.”
Following negotiations, the prisoners agreed to release their hostages in exchange for an amnesty for the protest, and the opportunity to make complaints about prison conditions to a federal judge. A key complaint was the jailing of children alongside adults, and the judge ordered children to be kept separate, as well as ordering that defence lawyers be made available to those who wanted them.
Despite the protesters receiving a signed promise of no reprisals from the corrections director, the director was replaced and the attorney general later charged 14 of them, most of whom were convicted and given additional prison time of 1-10 years each.
DC prison uprising - WCH | Stories
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