HUGO PINELL

      Hugo L.A. Pinell A-88401
SHU D3-ZZ1
PO Box 7500
Crescent City, CA 95531-7500
Web: http://www.afrikan.net/dreadx1.html

Hugo Pinell has been in California prisons since he was 19 years old. He is now 60. His original case (an assault charge for which he turned himself in) would have cost the average citizen a few years in prison. Hugo became politicized by revolutionary prisoners like W.L. Nolen, George L. Jackson, et al., who were attempting to promote a revolutionary mentality amongst prisoners and organize resistance to the racist, brutal attacks against them. They sought to unite all prisoners to demand better conditions and opportunities for growth so that when they hit the streets they could contribute to their communities productively and advance the domestic and international liberation struggles of all oppressed peoples. On August 21, 1971, Jackson was murdered on the yard at San Quentin in what prison officials described as an escape attempt. We believe it was a setup since many earlier attempts on Jackson's life had been unsuccessful. Six prisoners were put on trial for the murders and assaults of three guards and two inmate trustees during that incident. Hugo is the only one of the six who remains in prison. He is now in his 40th year of continuous custody, 34 of those years have been in solitary confinement.