Jackson, George

Biographical Details

George Jackson was born on September 24, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in a poverty-ridden industrial area just outside of the city. His childhood was characterized by risk taking, maladjustment, defiance, and delinquency. The family moved frequently around Chicago and eventually to Los Angeles. The enticements on the west coast were no fewer, however, and Jackson's involvement in delinquency progressed to gang involvement and more serious criminality. His contacts with the law grew more frequent, and he was eventually confined at the county jail and the California Youth Authority for breaking and entering, possession of stolen property, and robbery.

Jackson entered prison at the age of 18, convicted of a robbery that netted a total of $70. The inability or unwillingness to adjust that characterized his teenage years in Chicago carried over into his early years behind bars. During this time, he was often subjected to institutional discipline for disobeying policies and procedures. Incarcerated for an indeterminate sentence of one year to life, Jackson came before the parole board several times, only to be denied each time. Much of his time in prison was spent in solitary confinement.

While Jackson was serving his early years behind bars, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale were forming the Black Panther Party. From his prison cell, Jackson wrote to Newton requesting admittance into the party. Once he was granted full admission, this marked a turning point in his struggles against political repression in the institution. His membership in the Black Panther Party both legitimized and strengthened the prisoners’ rights movement. It also provided a vehicle for the exchange of information between those inside the prison walls and those on the outside.

Soledad Brothers

On January 16, 1970, Jackson and two other inmates were indicted in the murder of a white prison guard who was beaten to death and thrown [Page 492]over a railing to his death at Soledad Prison. Prison authorities charged that the convicts organized the killing in retaliation for an incident three days earlier in which a prison guard killed three black inmates during a fight in an exercise yard.

The case of the “Soledad Brothers” gained international recognition a year later when Jackson's younger brother, Jonathon, entered a Marin County (California) courtroom fully armed and intent on securing freedom for his brother and the other two inmates. The escape attempt failed when upon leaving the grounds of the courtroom, San Quentin guards and Marin County Sheriff's officers fired on the van and killed Jonathan and several others who were inside.