Past Events
Click on the image for more information on the Campaign to Free John “Balagoon” Cole and Christopher “Naeem” Trotter! Check back here for events and actions!
Queer Dance Party fundraiser for Abolition at Healer, 8pm 1/28/22! Click image for FB event
1/29/22, 1pm, Student Building 150 at IU Bloomington or on Zoom at this link.
This event will address the February 1, 1985 rebellion against white supremacist guard brutality at the Indiana Reformatory (now Pendleton CF), and the cases of the John “Balagoon” Cole and Christopher “Naeem” Trotter, who remain in prison to this day after being targeted as the ringleaders of the rebellion and wrongfully convicted. They were tortured in solitary confinement for 33 and 20 years, respectively, and are both currently seeking release.
IDOC Watch has obtained a copy of the deposition of Michael Richardson, a guard at the prison at the time of the rebellion, in which he details the existence of a formally organized white supremacist group among the guards known as the Sons of Light, which was responsible for systematic brutality against Black prisoners. His testimony was suppressed at trial, and the jury was not allowed to hear about the Sons of Light or the pattern and practice of racist brutality that provoked the rebellion. IDOC Watch also has much of the Record of Proceedings from the 1987 trial of the alleged instigators of the rebellion, in which it is clear that the prosecution and judge worked together to keep the jury from hearing testimony about the Sons of Light.
