ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Kathy Boudin, the '60s radical who has served 22 years in prison for a 1981 armored car heist in which three men were killed, was granted parole Wednesday.

Boudin, 60, a one-time member of the Weather Underground described as a model inmate in prison, had been denied parole just three months ago, as well as two years ago.

Thomas Grant, a spokesman for the state Division of Parole, said Boudin would be released on Oct. 1 or earlier, once her plans for parole supervision were set.

Grant said parole was granted by a two-member hearing panel after a 1 1/4-hour interview with Boudin on Wednesday afternoon at the Bedford Hills state prison in Westchester County.

In prison, Boudin developed a program on parenting behind bars and helped write a handbook for inmates whose children are in foster care. She also earned a master's degree in adult education and worked to help inmates with AIDS.

But her possible release had been staunchly opposed by the families, friends and colleagues of the three men who were killed -- Sgt. Edward O'Grady and Officer Waverly Brown of the Nyack police and Peter Paige, a Brink's guard.

After the parole hearing earlier this year, the sergeant's widow, Diane O'Grady, said: ``She played a very pivotal part in that crime. Nine children were left without their fathers. We want her to serve life.''

Boudin, daughter of civil rights attorney Leonard Boudin, became a radical activist in the 1960s. She was recruited for the Brink's robbery by Black Liberation Army members and other radicals who apparently wanted to have white people driving the getaway vehicle, a U-Haul truck, to throw off pursuers.

In the robbery at the Nanuet Mall, $1.6 million was stolen and the security guard was killed. The police officers were gunned down when their truck, with Boudin in the passenger seat, was stopped at a roadblock and the gang burst from the back of the vehicle with automatic weapons firing.

Boudin was apprehended as she fled, pleaded guilty to felony murder and robbery and was sentenced to 20 years to life.

She had told the parole board in 2001 that at the time of the robbery, she thought the money would be used ``to help the black community.''

She said she wasn't armed and was terrified when the gun battle ensued. And she said there was no way ``to pay the debt for my being involved or participating in the crime that destroyed families and destroyed men.''

After Boudin was denied parole at her first hearing in 2001, a judge ruled the board failed to take into account the recommendation of the sentencing judge that she be paroled after 20 years. That ruling led to the May parole hearing at which she was again denied parole. Wednesday's hearing was her regularly scheduled appearance before the parole board.

Boudin has a grown son, Chesa Boudin, who was just 14 months old when she participated in the robbery. Raised by friends, he graduated from Yale University in May. Last December, he had been named as one of the winners of prestigeous Rhodes Scholarships.

links:
http://abcf.net/
http://infoshop.org/gulag/stories.php

We are all certainly glad to see Kathy Boudin be freed, and she should have been freed a long time ago. It is a waste of our tax dollars for anyone to sit in prison for 20 years. A society geared toward rehabilitation instead of punishment would abolish prisons and establish group homes for violent prisoners to receive the education, medical care and job training they need to become productive members of society as quickly as possible. Non-violent prisoners should be freed immediately and all drugs should be legalized, causing the closure of most prisons immediately. The death penalty should also be abolished, and all on death row should be rehabilitated as quickly as possible to be productive members of society.

That said, the actions of Kathy Boudin were as stupid then as they must seem to the younger generation now. Most of us who can easily remember 22 years ago and were adults then, looked up all of these people, who were a tiny minority, who engaged in these adventurist, criminal acts
as either profoundly stupid or agent provocateurs, and we continue to hold the same view.

We understood that we needed then and still need is a labor movement, which we have not see in this country for over 50 years. It is labor organizing that makes possible radical change.

With a serious labor movement, we would not see 38-year-old women with babies participating in these kinds of criminal acts that do not benefit anybody. I find it amazing that at the age of 38, already late for being a new mother, Boudin would even think of participating in this stupidity. But then, I was not a famous lawyer's daughter. I had to work as a maid while in high school and college to make ends meet and was thrilled that I could obtain a decent paying job with a steady paycheck upon graduating, albeit not enough to buy a house. Still, it meant a lot to me, and still does.

To the younger generation: Organize labor now. That is what we desperately need. You will find a great deal of radicalism among those of us who are the dispossessed, disinherited and disenfranchised. You will also find a great deal of realism. It is best to rely upon the workingclass, those of us who have no choice but to have our feet firmly planted on the ground, making sure we have a steady paycheck to take care of basic needs. Remember, when labor moves, the earth is transformed, and that is very radical and revolutionary.

You're brain is obviously addled by the drugs you want to legalise.

Guardian UK 8/22/03: Parole Board Stands by Boudin Release
new Weather Underground documentary starts 8/29 at NuArt
Shadow Distribution

this is an amazing story....
Boudin was a member of the Weather Underground, which came out of Students For a Democratic Society, as did the Progressive Labor Party (?), Revolutionary Communist Party, Rosa Luxemburg - SDS, South End Press / Zmag, etc etc.....

Kathy Boudin's son Chesa was raised by Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, also from the Weather organization.

SDS Wikipedia entry
David Gilbert on history of SDS
Steve Shalom clarifies RL-SDS connection with Chomsky and Michael Albert
an account of "Glory Days" from Michael Albert
Pardun movie on SDS

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lynx

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on 8/21/03 Amy Goodman spoke with Chesa Boudin, son of Kathy Boudin. He recently graduated from Yale University and received a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. He was a baby when his parents were arrested and imprisoned. He was raised by Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, themselves former members of the Weather Underground.

Chesa Boudin:
"Well, it's hard to sum up all the ups and downs of having parents in prison. I think for me the main thing has been that I've been very lucky to have wonderful support network of family members and extended family. I grew up within a wonderful family, and actually had four parents instead of two. So, in that regard I was very lucky. And certainly, compared to most children with parents in prison, I've had a lot of opportunities. But it has been hard, especially when I was younger, you know, the stress of visiting my parents and of trying to maintain a relationship and build a relationship with them from the distance that incarceration creates. It was a challenge, and I was lucky to have all the support that I had along the way."

Amy Goodman interview with Susan Rosenberg After President Clinton Granted Her Executive clemency (January 2001)

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lynx

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This is a terrible day for justice. This is a terrible insult to the 3 officers who died and the 9 orphaned children. Infact, this is a terrible insult to every person in the US who enforces and protects justice. The fact that she murdered 3 officers and left 9 children orphaned is disgusting enough, but what's even more disgusting is that she did this crime in the name of Communism and Black Nationalism. Her crimes borderline treason, and anyone who thinks she's been imprissoned only for her extreme leftist philosophy are nothing but sick and naive fools!

sisterhood is powerful....

Chesa Boudin was a baby when his parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, were arrested and imprisoned for their activities as members of the Weather Underground. Chesa was raised by Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, themselves former members of the Weather Underground.

Bernardine Dohrn, an activist with the National Lawyers Guild back in 1968 , became a national officer of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) after she coordinated some of the legal defense work on behalf of the arrested Barnard and Columbia students.

for many reasons Dohrn was and has been a substantial one-woman threat to the prevailing order.

Bernardine Dohrn 2003 summer: The heart of today’s repression is the American addiction to caging African-American people, especially young men. This is the model for the cage in which they now seek to place the entire world.

Bernardine Dohrn 1998: Black and white students took action in solidarity with justice and freedom for others (in Vietnam and Harlem).. and by risking their own privileged futures, they forged meanings and discovered their own humanity. When several hundred students disrupted the status quo and defied their own upbringing by seizing university buildings, they uncovered a flood of creativity: daily wall newspapers, art posters, real learning in a crucible of activity, strike solidarity, legal defense strategies, freedom schools, unity with the Harlem community.
From this inventive rebellion would come activists of the women’s movement, the environmental struggle, Puerto Rican independence, labor, the gay liberation movement, Wounded Knee, struggles for the disabled, veterans, the elderly, health care, children, and a renewed peace movement.

SDS Wikipedia entry
David Gilbert on history of SDS
Steve Shalom clarifies RL-SDS connection with Chomsky and Michael Albert
an account of "Glory Days" from Michael Albert
Pardun movie on SDS

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lynx

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Kathy Boudin was NOT a political prisoner.
Grow up, 4yr old.

"...for violent prisoners to receive the education, medical care and job training they need to become productive members of society as quickly as possible."

Sure. You go ahead. Why don't you start in your neighborhood? Shoot, why not open your own home to violent prisoners?

"Uhh...well...see, I have...just not right now...property values...did I say that out loud?"

Yeah. That's what I thought.

A short lesson for the reality-challenged among you: There is such a thing as good and evil. If you can't point at something and say it's one or the other, you have a serious deficiency. Evil exists. It can't be hugged away. It can't be chanted away. It can't be rehabilitated. It must either be put away or destroyed.

You oppose the death penalty? Fine. But don't then insist that violent prisoners be released to some halfway house to get affirmation and understanding.

It won't work. You'll just be creating more victims. In someone's neighborhood.

Just not yours, huh?

"A short lesson for the reality-challenged among you"

That's rich, coming from someone who believes in the fairy tale that is God. Idiot.

This article makes one feel compassion for Kathy Boudion., I believe in forgiveness, however I believe more in accountability for one's crimes. Her son goes on to graduate from Yale...How did he come into that privilege? Is he that gifted or is it the money he had handed to him? How many wonderful students are denied acceptance to that University? She spends years in prison and we are to feel sorry for her? I feel more sorry for the families of the dead officers. They are the ones who are the innocent victims here. Kathy made a decision in the acts that were planned and thought out ......she thought she would get away ...she didn't...so she needs to pay the price along with the men who actually pulled the triggers. She was in on the whole planning...I am surprised that a decision was made in giving her parole. she will go on to live while wonderful fathers are dead. I am dismayed over this whole process of money making the deals....

I think alot of people are missing the point. She was found guilty of her crime. The purpose of parole is to determine if anything more is served by keeping her in prison. Obviously, the parole board determined that she had exhibited both regret for her crimes and rehabilitation of her character. Many criminals are paroled under similar circumstances that we never hear about. Is the argument against parole for her, or against parole for any criminal? If it against parole for her, then justify under conditions of parole that are normally acceptable. If it is against parole in general...well, that's a completely diffent issue that has little to do with Kathy...

tpfkamsoizxhjodsaiojoasnzcn:"There is such a thing as good and evil. If you can't point at something and say it's one or the other, you have a serious deficiency"

...I'm pointing at my calculator right now...damn if it isn't evil!

..whadda fuckin' asswipe...

I'm confused. As much as I loathe this bag of shit and wish she was never paroled, I have to agree with KFC and that sorta confuses me.

You don't acknowledge the existence of good and evil?

You are a fool.

...I actually believe in fairy tales, so what do I know? Not a whole hell of a lot!

...well...I'm not so certain about "good" and "evil"....

......but I sure know "stupid" when I see it.....

Evil is as Evil does.

Then your Stupid Meter must peg whenever you log on to la-imc.

I know mine does.

..."stupid meter"...???

...that's just...well...stupid....

Mommy send in that FICA contribution for the maid yet, KPC?

It's a Stupid Meter!

Man...you just peaked mine out.

a clown, or more a jester (since nonanarchist is clearly a monarchist in a democracy++oh rats!), trying to rewrite history as his teeny weeny little brain concieves.

But no doubt his army chaplain told he was the handsomest and smartest boy around. Alas, just another military lie.

"...(since nonanarchist is clearly a monarchist in a democracy++oh rats!)..."

Do you often rewrite reality as it happens?

Must be really interesting in your head.

Kathy Boudin is, in reality, a political prisone, in the process of being paroled, who did more for American freedom and liberty than any shillish monarchist ever even imagined.

No...she participated in robbery and the murder of three men. What is so difficult for you to understand about that?

"...who did more for American freedom and liberty than any shillish monarchist ever even imagined."

Yes, we're all MUCH freer with the deaths of those three men.

By the way, you idiot...it's "nonanarchist"...as in NON-ANARCHIST.

"Shill", huh? Oh, you must be one of the self-appointed intelligentsia who cannot fathom anyone disagreeing with you without being paid to do so.

Idiot.

I have changed my posting handle to "nonanarchist."

I will keep changing my name as long as I keep getting my ass handed to me in arguments.

Puddin'Head is back....

....as puddin' headed as ever....

...or maybe my long lost doggie...?

this is how the cops understood Bernardine Dohrn.

[jump up in thread]

if you think the cops were keeping careful notes then, just think how much more sophisticated the flowcharts and graphs must be today. sooner or later we are going to have to organize ourselves at a massive scale against the state intelligence apparatus specifically.

cop diagrams like the one above fit into much more complex ones like this political mapping of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

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i finally saw the new Weather Underground movie and it has some serious problems. the film makers did a great job compiling old footage but the overall political picture they have presented is silly, confused, and inaccurate.

For example, they tell the story of George Jackson's assassination in prison in an unacceptably tokenistic and misleading way. his story enters the film narrative because of the Weathermen's stated political solidarity with him. the man's amazing story is of crucial relevance here. and yet, for the film makers, George Jackson becomes just a black man in San Quentin prison who happened to write a bestselling book and was shot by prison guards while trying to escape.... a couple seconds of the murdered inmates mother questioning the truth of the story and then they move on to the next topic.

no mention of the political motivations for confining an eighteen year old for ten years over a $70 gas station robbery. no mention of the fact that George Jackson had become a committed activist. no mention of the massive one-man threat that Jackson represented as the galvanizing leader of ever growing numbers of radicalized prisoners. no mention of the fact that prison officials themselves called him a "dangerous freewheeling convict leader who must be isolated because of his impact on the prison population." no perspective like that of Huey P. Newton: "George Jackson is a legend in the California prison system. Someone who has refused to sacrifice his integrity or the integrity of anyone else to get out of prison."

another example of the wrong-headedness of a lot of this movie is the way the movie makers dealt with sex. they have a female voice read group sex stories from Mark Rudd's diary over grainy black and white footage of young women making it with each other. somehow a man's story about group sex involving both other men and women becomes JUST young women, told by a feminine voice. that's twisted.

there's a ton of other comparable problems with this movie - too many to get into right now. i suspect that the people who made this movie were sort of like very good students getting very good grades on an assignment that somebody else gave them. "do a report on a 'revolutionary' group from the sixties...."

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lynx

latest comments

"George Jackson was one of the leaders of the developing Prison Rights Movement at the time. He helped development a new consciousness among prisoners based on political education, service to the community and the destruction of the evil capitalistic system. George was Field Marshall of the Black Panther Party and had a fantastic gift for writing. He had a clear analysis of the evils of capitalism and how it affected our community. George was loved by all Party members. When he was murdered, many Party members wanted to take up arms to avenge his death. I was one of them. We were ready, but were directed by the Central committee to chill out and stay focused and the larger, protracted struggle."

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from an interview with George Jackson:
"The nature of the function of the prison within the police state has to be continuously explained, elucidated to the people on the street because we can't fight alone in here. Oh yeah, we can fight, but if we're isolated, if the state is successful in accomplishing that, the results are usually not constructive in terms of proving our point. We fight and we die, but that's not the point, although it may be admirable from some sort of purely moral point of view. The point is, however, in the face of what we confront, to fight and win. That's the real objective: not just to make statements, no matter how noble, but to destroy the system that oppresses us. By any means available to us. And to do this, we must be connected, in contact and communication with those in struggle on the outside."

http://www.freedomarchives.org/
http://www.prisonactivist.org/blackaugust/struggleinsideAug.shtml
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prison movement links:

committee to end the Marion lockdown
critical resistance
prison activist resource center
stop prisoner rape
books not bars
anarchist black cross federation
anarchist black cross network
books to prisoners
american gulag
see also: the best COINTELPRO online research resource that i know of
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news 9/10/03:
St. Luke’s Hospital Offers Kathy Boudin a Job
jump back in thread about Kathy Boudin
solidarity with protests against the WTO in Cancun!!
stop police brutality in Mesa AZ!!

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lynx

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from Pelican Bay.... D-63937, P.O. Box 7500, A3-215, Crescent City CA 95531,
the words of Larry P. Mitchell :

Pelican Bay parallels Guantanamo Bay.
There are about 640 prisoners from 42 different nations - people the Bush administration refers to as “detainees” - being held in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They have not been charged with any crime and are being denied their basic human rights and the due process of America’s supposedly moral justice system.....

About 2,500 miles northwest of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Pelican Bay, California, the very same method of isolation and confinement is being practiced.

Currently, there are about 50 to 60 Black prisoners being held in Pelican Bay State Prison’s administrative segregation unit - commonly referred to as the “hole” - “pending an investigation,” according to officials. The population within that unit is 70 percent black.

Beginning in June 2003, the “pickle suits” (correctional officers, or COs, who wear green suits) began locking down black prisoners from both general population facilities here at Pelican Bay, alleging that black prisoners were “conspiring to assault and/or murder correctional staff,” a serious indictment.

What makes this allegation and subsequent locking down of black prisoners especially felonious by those who manipulate and control this monstrous beast called Pelican Bay is that there is no evidence being used to validate the alleged conspiracy. We are being held in isolation without our property, denied any means to claim our innocence and being told that we will be held in the hole until the completion of the so-called pending investigation - in other words, indeterminately....

The California Department of Corruption (CDC) along with public law enforcement are directly responsible for the over $34 billion state deficit. The public has been poli-tricked into funding a prison system that spends substantial amounts of their money on devices that are made to subdue and control violence. When those for whom those devices are made abandon reactionary violence, those devices become moot, which subsequently stops the funding for such devices to be bought. So the prisoncrats have to suit the state and federal officials who oversee their funding, concocting violence on paper.

CDC seems to have learned a method of isolation and confinement from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: locking up segments of people “pending investigation,” leaving those they claim are suspect in an indeterminate state of legal limbo, regardless of their innocence. And with that said, folks, Brothas remain locked down. Uhura sasa!

Prison Activist Links: Activist and Community Organizations
George Jackson
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lynx

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Why has the fact that Kathy had already surrendered to police before the two policemen were gunned down been left out? She was in custody and was not successfully prosecuted for the two officers deaths. Is this media slanting??? We get too much of that!!!!!
I believe she has paid her debt to society for her role. The ones who actuall pulled the trigger should have been put to death.