Prison Rebel Birthdays for the Month of October

A list of prison rebel birthdays for the month of October.

Inspired by the spirit of the Political Prisoners Birthday crew, here’s a short listing of some rebel prisoners who have upcoming birthdays in October. For an an introduction on how to write to prisoners and some things to do and not to do, go here. If you have the time, please also check IWOC’s listing of prisoners facing retaliation for prison strike-related organizing.

Big congratulations to Oleksandr Kolchenko, a Ukranian anarchist and antifascist who’s just been released after being framed and imprisoned, Jock Palfreeman, who’s just made parole after serving a sentence in the Bulgarian prison system for stabbing a racist while trying to stop an attack, and used his time inside to organize a prisoners’ union. UPDATE: Jock’s path to freedom might not be so smooth after all – see here for how you can help, and Ferguson rebel Steve Martin, who also just made parole.

RIP to Vaughn defendant Kelly Gibbs, who should be around to celebrate his 31^st birthday this month. And happy birthday to former political prisoner and Certain Days collective member Robert Seth Hayes, who served 45 years and emerged unbroken, and to Michael Davis Africa and Eddie Goodman Africa of the MOVE 9, who’ll both be celebrating their first birthdays in freedom after serving 40 years!

Joshua “Skelly” Stafford

One of the Cleveland 4, entrapped in a plot started by an FBI informant to repress the Occupy movement.

Birthday: October 3

Address:
Joshua Stafford #57976-060
USP McCreary
PO Box 3000
Pine Knot, KY 42635

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, Imam

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly H. Rap Brown, was a legendary black liberation leader, serving as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later the Justice Minister of the Black Panther Party. Wrongfully convicted of murder in the 1990s after an intense campaign of state harassment.

Birthday: October 4

Address:

Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin #99974-555
USP Tucson
P.O. Box 24550
Tucson, AZ 85734
United States

David Gilbert

David Gilbert is a longtime anti-imperialist and current member of the Certain Days collective. He became active around the civil rights movement in 1960, and later organized against the Vietnam War. He spent 10 years as part of an underground resistance to imperialism. Working as an anti-racist ally of the Black Liberation Army in 1981, David and others were captured in connection with an attempted expropriation (theft for political reasons) of a Brink’s truck in Nyack, NY.

David was sentenced to 75 years to life and is currently being held at Auburn, a maximum-security prison in New York State. In 1986, David became active as an advocate and educator around AIDS in prison after his codefendant Kuwasi Balagoon died suddenly of AIDS while still in custody.

Birthday: October 6

Address:

David Gilbert #83-A-6158
Wende Correctional Facility
3040 Wende Road
Alden, NY 14004-1187
United States

Malik Bey (Meral Smith)

Malik is one of the Virgin Island 5 serving 8 consecutive life sentences after being tortured into a false confession then wrongly imprisoned since 2001 when his sentence was vacated.

Birthday: October 8

Address:

Meral Smith #19-1874
Citrus County Detention Facility
2604 W. Woodland Ridge Dr.
Lecanto, FL 34461
United States

Eric Hancock

Eric Hancock is an antifascist prisoner serving a year’s sentence for unlawful wounding after a confrontation that developed when a white power band played Richmond.

Birthday: October 8

Address:

Eric Hancock #161270
Richmond City Justice Center
1701 Fairfield Way
Richmond, VA 23223
United States

Jermaine Parker

Jermaine Parker was sentenced to 14 years for shooting a firearm out of a car in protest during the Ferguson uprising.

Birthday: October 15

Address:

Jermaine Parker #1185800
MECC,
18701 Old Highway 66,
Pacific, MO 63069

Jalil Muntaqim

Long-term Black Liberation prisoner, formerly associated with the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, imprisoned since 1975 as part of the “New York Three.” You can learn more about Jalil in his own words by listening to the interviews with him that were broadcast on the Final Straw.

Birthday: October 18

Address:

Anthony J. Bottom #77A4283
Sullivan Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 116
Fallsburg, NY 12733
United States