Fifth Estate Collective
Army Stockades Blow
NEW YORK, N.Y., July 1—The national office of the American Servicemen’s Union announced that two revolts had taken place in army stockades recently; on June 14 at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina and on June 22 at Ft. Riley, Kansas.
The uprising at Jackson was touched off by the beating of a prisoner, Julio Rivera, who had refused to pull K.P. Rivera was severely beaten by three sergeants and had to be hospitalized.
In protest, 150 prisoners gathered and requested to see the stockade Commandant. The army relented, releasing Rivera and several other prisoners from confinement. Rivera plans to bring charges against the sergeants who beat him.
At the Ft. Riley stockade, a guard shot a prisoner who was allegedly trying to escape. The rebellion broke out the next day when other prisoners heard that he had died. MPs were stoned and two prisoners wounded when the MPs opened fire.
Concerning the rebellions, Bob Lemay, a Vietnam veteran and the executive director of the American Servicemen’s Union, stated, “These uprisings come close on the heels of an even bigger revolt at the Ft. Dix Stockade where the inmates had been driven by the brass’ torture and abuse to the point where they could only rise up and fight their oppressor. We support al rebellions of servicemen who are held as prisoners by the brass. Al stockade prisoners should be released and the war criminals of the Pentagon put behind bars.”
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