In 1978 STANDING DEER, an Oneida/Choctaw American Indian exposed a government plot to assassinate American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Leonard Peltier in Marion federal penitentiary. This bizarre case has been documented in several books including In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen. In 1984 Standing Deer, Leonard Peltier, and Albert Garza fasted for 42 days to draw worldwide attention to the deplorable conditions at USP Marion, the Super Maximum Security federal prison. In his Marion Death Fast statement Standing Deer wrote in part: "All of the above things I could probably learn to live with because I realize that Marion is america's #1 gulag for political prisoners, and I know that my brothers, friends and comrades in here are suffering the same indignities. But there is one outrage that I can no longer tolerate. I will no longer allow the united states to continue to deny me the right to practice my religion. For 491 years the religion of my people has been trampled on and disrespected by the sea pirates and many of their descendents who invaded my shores so long ago. For those of us who today wish to follow the religion and teachings of our grandfathers, the road is rocky and the struggle is hard even under conditions in the so-called "free world." But for American Indians in Marion federal prison, we have been cast into a spiritual wastebasket where every aspect of our religion is denied.
"Leonard and me enter into this fast not out of despair or depression but with a joyful commitment of total love and dedication to our people. We must have our Pipe, drum, sweat lodge and access to our outside spiritual people. We will fast until we are either granted our constitutional right to practice our religion or until we return to our Creator. If the united states does not wish us to die they have but to obey their own laws. If we do die, the united states' total disregard for human rights will be our murderers."
In retaliation for the 42-day fast, the government held these three men in solitary isolation for 15 months with nothing in their cages except a steel bunk and toilet. The door to their cage was never opened unless their hands were handcuffed behind their backs and four guards with clubs were present to supervise their every move (what the Marion Control Unit calls "a four man order".) After a year of these hideous terms of confinement attorney Margaret G. Gold filed a million dollar lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons that succeeded in having each of -them transferred to separate maximum security prisons where they were allowed to practice their religion. In the summer of 1985 Peltier went to USP Leavenworth (where he remains to this day); Garza went to USP Lewisburg; and Standing Deer to USP Lompoc.
Two months after arriving at Lompoc, Standing Deer was accused of leading 30 Indian brothers in a protest over issues of religious denial. Once again, Margaret Gold filed a lawsuit styled Standing Deer v Carlson, but before trial he was thrown in the hole and held incommunicado for seven days. He was then taken to the airport in the middle of the night wearing nothing but chains and boxer shorts, and flown in a small plane with five FBI agents and turned over to McAlester prison in Oklahoma, the prison from which he had escaped ten years earlier. He had been kicked out of the federal prison system without even completing his federal sentence, prompting him to quip, "I've been kicked out of places before, but never a whole prison system!"
Standing Deer's new prison was a Control Unit just like Marion - a cesspool of sadistic mistreatment. Ben Carnes, a young Choctaw brother, filed a lawsuit against the system for the denial of the right to practice Indian religion.
Once again Margaret Gold dropped everything and rushed from New York to Oklahoma to conduct a trial along with two local attorneys. The lawsuit was successful in gaining exemptions from forced haircutting for the brothers who hold their hair to be sacred.
In 1992, after seven years in the McAlester supermax Standing Deer discharged his Oklahoma sentence and was extradited to Texas where he faced a life sentence. He was immediately thrown in the hole at the Ellis prison in Huntsville which had the reputation as the toughest prison in Texas.In spite of the wretched prison conditions and failing health Standing Deer continues to do all he can in the struggle to free Leonard Peltier and save Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The Texas prison system has locked him in the hole for telling the truth in his political writings, but he continues to fight for human dignity and religious freedom for imprisoned American Indians.
April 6, 2001 marks Standing Deer's twenty-fifth year of continuous confinement in some of the worst prisons this country has to offer. At 68 his health is very bad. Texas has given him five parole hearings since 1993 but all were denied in spite of the pleas of his family, children and grandchildren.
Standing Deer's words from his prison cell: "I will continue to struggle In Total Resistance whether in here or out there until the day I cross over to the Spirit World. To all of you who struggle in unity to make our Mother Earth a sweeter nesting place for our children and our generations yet unborn I extend the left hand of my left arm which is closest to my heart. My love, Strength and prayers are with you. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. FREE PELTIER-SAVE MUMIA!
