John Sinclair, Minister of Information for the White Panther Party, remains as political prisoner of the State of Michigan.
John has been moved to Marquette Prison in the Upper Peninsula after Department of Corrections officials began to worry that he might be a uniting force among the prisoners at Jackson to protest conditions there.
Marquette is a maximum security prison reserved usually for prisoners too tough or dangerous for the regular penal system facilities. It is 350 miles from John’s wife, Leni, and their child, Sunny. The only positive aspect is that his visitors can stay and visit with him for an entire weekend. No physical contact is allowed of course.
Rumors that John was tattooed or “branded” with his prison number are entirely false. They began because of a misunderstanding when John told Leni that he was going to have his number put on his arm after his release to be a life-long reminder of what is being done to ‘him.
People who wrote to John after our last issue probably had their letters returned or destroyed if they wrote to the Jackson Prison address. The kindly old gentlemen who run the dungeon there don’t want to forward mail when a prisoner is transferred.
His new address is John Sinclair, 123507, Box 799, Marquette, MI 49855.
Legal and political moves are still being made to free John at this writing, but nothing new has developed in the last two weeks. We will have a report in our next issue on the White Panther march on Lansing to present Gov. Miliken with thousands of signatures demanding John’s release and on his birthday celebration at the Grande Ballroom.
The John Sinclair Defense Fund is still in need of money if they are going to continue their efforts on behalf of John. Send all donations to the Fund at 1512 Hill St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
The Detroit Free Press report in “Tip-off” that Trans-Love Energies’ phones are disconnected are erroneous. As usual, the Free Press is about a month and a half behind things when the phones were shut off for a brief period. Their number in Ann Arbor is 663-1011.