Feb. 15, 1968: 56 years ago, Feb 15 1968, inmates at San Quentin State Prison went on [...]

56 years ago, Feb 15 1968, inmates at San Quentin State Prison went on strike, declaring a “Convict Unity Holiday.” Outside, 500 demonstrators held a solidarity festival at which the Grateful Dead played. The strike escalated throughout the week, soon leading to a total lockdown

In Jan 1967, a “race riot” almost broke out in San Quentin, which many inmates felt was the result of animosities intentionally stoked by prison authorities. With clandestine support from Berkeley radicals, they began illegally printing “The Outlaw,” an underground newspaper

Hand-inked with the use of stencils, the Outlaw combined articles about abuses at San Quentin with vicious satire of guards and other authorities. After attempts to crack down on the paper failed, it published a list of grievances and called for a strike in February

The Peace & Freedom Party organized support rallies every day of the weeklong “holiday.” As bands played, demonstrators hung flowers on San Quentin’s gates and sent multicolored balloons bearing peace signs over the walls. That week, a solidarity strike began at Folsom Prison

By the 20th, both San Quentin and Folsom were on total lockdown, achieving strikers’ goal of a complete work stoppage. San Quentin’s associate warden announced that the prison was a victim of “a new type of insurrection involving a coalition of prisoners and… the New Left”