San Quentin Six
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On August 21, 1971, three days before he was to go on trial, George Jackson founder of the prison gang the Black Guerilla Family was gunned down in the prison yard at San Quentin State Prison in California during an escape attempt.
During the escape which sparked a riot on the cellblock, Jackson had a 9 mm automatic pistol smuggled into the prison by attorney Stephen Bingham (immediately after the incident, Bingham went on the run and fled the country for 13 years). During the riot, caused by Jackson and two dozen other prisoners, three corrections officers and two inmates were tortured and killed.
Six of the inmates that participated in the incident were placed on trial. They were referred to at the time as The San Quentin Six. Their trial was the longest in California history at that time, and was referred to by Time magazine as "The Longest Trial". The six inmates are Hugo Pinell, Willie Tate, Johnny Larry Spain, David Johnson, Fleeta Drumgo and Luis Talamantez [1][1]
Johnny Spain, the only one of the Six convicted of murder, had his conviction overturned according to the Los Angeles Times in an article that appeared on July 1, 1982, by African American judge Thelton Henderson who has also placed Pelican Bay State Prison under federal receivership. Spain was himself murdered on his porch shortly after paroling.
Hugo Pinell, convicted of assault, is the only one of the six still in prison. He remains incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison Crescent City, Ca. He is a member of the Black Guerilla Family prison gang.
