Graterford prison, like other state
lockups, was a “cesspool’ ripe for
violence even before rebel con-
victs took hostages *The system
is bad,” Stone said. *Graterford is
a cesspool. They (the captors)
kept telling me how bad it was.
They just couldn’t take it

In the end the men were
charged with assault, attempted
escape, kidnapping and other of-
fense. Joe-Joe was sent to the
Federal Prison in Marion, 1lli-
nois, where he met up with other
political prisoners and prisoners
of war such as Sundiata Acoli,
Hanif Shabazz Bey and Ray Luc
Levasseur.

Joe-Toe was later transferred
back into the Pennsylvania
prison system. Since his return,
he has been kept in the control
units in every prison he has been
transferred to. However, recently
he has been placed in a step
down program with the hope of
being placed back in general
population.

Despite his current condition,
his commitment to the struggle
remains strong. He has raised the
consciousness of literally thou-
sands of Pennsylvania prisoners
through his powerful history and
political/military ~ education
classes. Many of these prisoners
become aware of his story just by

arriving at Curran- Fromhold
Correctional ~ Facility, named
after the warden and deputy war-
den killed in 1973

In 2004 Bowen was diagnosed
with coronary artery disease. He

as transferred to an outside
hospital where a stent was in-
serted into his blocked artery.
Although Joe-Joe’s name is well
known within the prison system
ofthe state, He is not well known
outside the prison walls. As such,
financial support is desperately
needed for Joe-Joe to help with
his legal fees and day-to-day as-
sistance.

Any letters sent to Bowen must
be in bright white envelopes and
other color or shade of white
(egg white or off white) will
‘more than likely be returned due
to strict guidelines by the Penn-
sylvania Department of Correc-
tions.

Joe-Joe [~ |
Bowen

Black Liberation

Prisoner of War

Army

Joe Bowen is a Black Libera-
tion Army (BLA) Prisoner of
War, serving two life sentences
for actions carried out against a
prison warden and deputy war-
den, as well as, an attempted
prison break, which resulted in a
five-day standoft.

As a teen, Joe-Joe Bowen was
a member of Philly’s 30th and
Norris Street gang. While se:
ing a five-year prison sentence
for a social crime, Joe-Joe was
introduced to revolutionary poli-
tics. From this point on he was
determined to dedicate his life to
the people’s liberation move-
ment.

Joe-Joe was released in 1971
and intended to join the struggle
on the streets. His activities be-
yond the prison wall only lasted
five days. Bowen was arrested
for a February 21, 1971 shootout
with a Philadelphia patrolman
after being stopped for question-

ing. In the end the patrolman laid
dead and Joe-Joe was sentenced
10 10 to 20 years in prison for
second-degree murder. During
those days Philadelphia police
had a reputation of corruption
and brutality, especially against
the emerging Black liberation
movement. In 1970, police en-
‘gaged in a 2-hour assault against
the Philadelphia Black Panthers,
after which, the police forced the
captured combatants to strip
naked while the press took pic-
tures. This was also the police
force who years later, pinned a
‘murder of cop on a former Black
Panther and journalist, Mumia
Abu-Jamal.

1973 Attack on the Warden

After his arrest, Joe-Joe was
being housed in Holmesburg
prison waiting to be tried. Condi-
tions in the prison were severe.
Between 1951 until 1974 in-

Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross PO Box 11223 Whittier CA 90603

Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross

PO Box 11223 Whittier CA 90603
mates were used as test subjects
for medical experiments. The
prison had been a scene of recent
rioting due to the overcrowding
and conditions. While the inmate
population was estimated at
1,200, the prison itself was built
0 hold 700 inmates.

On May 31, 1973, Joe-Joe and
Black Liberation Army POW,
Fred Muhammad Burton, re-
quested a meeting with the wa
den regarding concerns of
Muslim prisoners having more
time for prayer. The requests put
forward by the two men fell on
deaf ears and the warden denied
the request. In response, Joe-Joe
Bowen attacked the warden and
deputy warden. During the attack
another guard was injured when
he attempted to intervene.
Bowen received a ruptured
spleen, a broken arm and possi-
ble concussion during the attack
Burton received head injuries,
multiple bruises, cuts and a arm
fracture

Investigations claimed that the
attack was premeditated and the
meeting regarding having more
time for prayer was nothing more
than a ruse. The investigation
further claimed that the warden
was targeted because his policies
alienated Black Muslims and that
he “said *no’ to the Muslims once

100 often.” The investigation fur-
ther claims that the order to take
out the warden was given the
night before the attack.

“I ain’t no angel. I’ll
do my time. All we
want is to be recog-
nized as what we are,

human beings.”
Jo.

Joe Bowen

In March of 1974, Joe-Joe was
found guilty of first-degree mur-
der of the police officer in 1971
He was sentenced to life in
prison. One year later, a jury
found Bowen guilty of two
charges of murder and another
charge of assault with the attempt
to kill. He was sentenced to two
life sentences for this action. In
June of 1976, a jury found Bur-
ton guilty of one count of murder
ofthe second degree. Bowen te:
tified on behalf of Burton, stating
that it was he who had attack the
two prison officials and that Bur-
ton was an innocent bystander.
The prosecutor, however, at-
tempted to discredit Bowen by
questioning him about crimes for
which he was never found guilty.

After his sentence, Bowen was
held in solitary confinement. In
an interview with a Philadelphia

reporter, Bowen stated, “You
reach a point of rage in the hole,
and then you got to come out of
there. That's when you move to
the extreme left, the extreme
right, or you self destruct.”

“I used to teach the brothers
how to tun their rage into energy
and how to understand thei
uation” He said, “I don’t
threaten anybody. I don’t talk to
the pigs. I don’t drink nothing I
can’t see through, and I don’t cat
anything that comes off a tray.
When the time comes, I'll be

afier the attack a
total of 203 inmates were trans-
ferred out of the prison due to
overcrowding. However, many
of the prisoners felt the transfers
were retaliatory because of the
amount of Black Muslims that
were being transferred out. At-
tempts to stop the transfers failed
and prisoners were transferred to
the various other prisons
throughout the state,

1981 Prison Standoff

In October 28, 1981, Joe-Joe
lead a mass liberation attempt
from the state’s largest prison at
Graterford, after arming other
prisoners with two shotguns and
two revolvers. Bowen and three
others attempted to scale the
prison’s 40-foot wall and were
stopped by a rifle shot from a
guard tower. Afier re tumning fire,
they captured three guards and
retreated in the prison kitchen
where they captured three
kitchen employees and 29 in-
mates. Three other inmates
joined in the action

Bowen and the six others held
off the prison’s guards, State Po-
lice and FBI for 5 days until an
agreement was struck. The stand-
off ended only after prison offi-
cials agreed to several demands:
1) All seven of the men involved
in the standoff be permitted to
transfer, including to Federal
prison, if they so desired; 2) they
were not required to pay for any
damages they had caused: 3) any
disciplinary time in solitary con-
finement be limited o six
months,

Chuck Stone, a Philadelphia
journalist, acted as an outside ne-
gotiator because the inmates had
no confidence in the integrity of
the system. Authorities knew

Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross

PO Box 11223 Whittier CA 90603

Los Angeles Anarchist Black Cross

PO Box 11223 Whittier CA 90603