TRIAL BEGINS OVER “DALLAS 6” PRISONERS

"Dallas 6" prisoners face trial for protesting conditions in solitary confinement.

Six black men – Andre Jacobs, Anthony Kelly, Anthony Locke, Duane Peters, Derrick Stanley and Carrington, also known as the Dallas 6, held a peaceful protest against the physical and mental abuse and starvation inflicted on them and other prisoners in April 29, 2010. They covered their cell windows and peacefully demanded an outside intervention. Guards forcibly removed the men from their individual cells, assaulted them with military weaponry and pepper sprayed them. Afterwards they stripped them naked and left them bloody, without providing any treatment. These six innocent protesters were accused of initiating a prison riot. Before this incident, members of the Dallas 6 notified the district attorney and state police about ongoing abuses at State Correctional Institution at Dallas. Of course, neither responded nor investigated.

These charges are just an easy way to cover up rampant human and civil rights violations committed against prisoners. How could unarmed men locked separate in cells be charged with “riot”?

Our broken and corrupt justice system is the problem.

These brave men stood up for their rights and were punished for this. Prisoners reported that cells are filthy and the water from the sink is brown. Other complaints included failure to provide physical and mental health care, deprivation of water, and routine physical violence. Prison staff spit in their food and often refused to feed a person by passing his cell as they handed out food trays.

All these crimes remain unpunished, and when the men dared to speak out against the brutality, they were accused of initiating a prison riot.

Now jurors will decide whether Andre Jacobs, Duane Peter, and Carrington Keys are guilty of rioting. 37-year-old Anthony Locke, was convicted of a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct in April 2015. Locke was sentenced to two to four months in prison for the conviction. Derrick Stanley pleaded no contest to resisting arrest and was sentenced to 95 to 190 days in prison.