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Articles by John Perotti

In Memory - Reverends Ernest Bromley and Maurice McCrackin

On December 18, 1997, Reverend Ernest Bromley passed away. Less than two weeks later, on December 30, 1997, Bromley's partner, comrade, and Brother, Reverend Maurice McKrackin ("Rev Mac" to all) followed him. Both had a long painful fight with cancer.

Ernest and Mac also both had a long history of ...

Ohio Update

At Mansfield Correctional Institution (MANCI) the warden, Dennis Baker, Major Mack, the Business Manager, and two guards were placed on administrative leave while the FBI and State Highway Patrol (SHP) investigated allegations they accepted gratuities and kickbacks from a prisoner, J. Crow, whom they allowed to operate a business from ...

Ohio Activist Needs Help

Readers of this paper will recall my article "Spilt Milk", detailing human rights abuses at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (Luke) located in Lucasville, OH and how I was set up in retaliation for witnessing the beating of an inmate and writing about it. This retaliation was also due to ...

Lucasville 1994 "Spilt Milk"

By John W. Perotti

It's been almost two years since the 11-day siege at the southern Ohio Correctional Facility located in Lucasville, Ohio. The problem?  "Spilt milk" is just the beginning.

Millions of dollars have been spent on reconstruction of the prison and prosecution of the prisoners that the state ...

Repression Ohio Style

By John Perotti

On April 14, 1994, the 60th day of a hungerstrike by Danny Cahill (see PLN, April, 1994), state representatives Rhine McLin and Samuel Bateman ordered Lebanon Correctional Institution officials to take them to Danny's isolation cell. Danny had been experiencing daily vomiting and convulsions; his cell reeked ...

Book Review: Subpoena George Bush - The Anatomy of a Cover Up

by John Perrotti

Subpoena George Bush, by Aaron Caleb with Douglas Slaton, is the story of former Lucasville 14 member Richard Armstrong. For those unfamiliar with the Lucasville 14, they were fourteen prisoners confined at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, who, relying upon the Helsinki Agreement accord, renounced ...

Ohio Targets Activists as "Gang Members"

Ohio Targets Activists As "Gang Members"

By John Perotti

The Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DORC) instituted a regulation prohibiting "gang related activity." This was implemented to fall in line with their overall intention to follow in the footsteps of California, Texas, Illinois and other states which have built "Super ...

What's Wrong in the Ohio DOC?

It's been almost a year since the end of the siege at Lucasville. During this time investigations have been conducted by the State Legislature, State Highway Patrol and Scioto County Prosecutor's Office. The mass media has focused on "crimes" committed during the riot rather than on the problems which caused ...

Lucasville: A Brief History

By John Perotti

The pinnacle of the prisoners' rights movement had about reached its peak when I arrived at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, Ohio, in 1977. I had been transferred from the Ohio State Reformatory (OSR) in Mansfield, Ohio, to what was before the Ohio State ...

Family Visiting Info Wanted

Policies, analytical charts and studies and any documentary evidence on family visiting programs (also known as trailer visits, extended family visiting, etc.) and their beneficial qualities are needed in an effort to implement such a program in Ohio. Any documentation, articles, etc., that may be helpful are also needed. Send ...