Political Prisoner Tom Manning Passes Away In Prison - July 30 2019

asherunderwood (52)in #activist • 5 years ago (edited)

The People must fight for their own system in all ways—one of those being armed clandestine struggle. We have a long way to go, but we are getting there. I am accused of being a part of the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit in the 1970’s and the United Freedom Front in the 1980s. I am proud of the association and all it implies.
- Tom Manning (June 28 1946 – July 30 2019)

Tom Manning served over 35 years in prison and was projected for release in 2020 but died in prison on July 31, 2019, from an apparent Heart Attack.

Tom Manning is a political prisoner who past away in prison July 30, 2019. Manning is known for his involvement in the death of a police officer during a traffic stop, and for his involvement with the United Freedom Front (UFF) who bombed a series of US military and commercial institutes in the 1970s and early 1980s. After joining the US Military in 1963, Manning was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and then transferred off to the Vietnam War. Sometime after 1965 he was arrested and sentenced by a Massachusetts state court to five years in prison for armed robbery and assault. Manning said it was in prison that he became politicized through his interactions with other prisoners.

Tom Manning pleaded self-defense at his trial, while defense counsel showed that Lamonaco had emptied his .357 Magnum revolver at Manning and his associates. He was sentenced on February 19, 1987, to 58 years in federal prison.

Together with his arrest for the bombings, Manning was also convicted for his role in killing New Jersey police officer Philip Lamonaco during a traffic stop on December 21, 1981. The killings launched the largest manhunt in NJ police history, and ended with the arrests of Raymond Levasseur, Patricia Gros, Richard Williams, Jaan Laaman, and Barbara Curzi on November 4, 1984, and Manning and his wife Carol on April 24, 1985. All of them were associated with the United Freedom Front.

The United Freedom Front (UFF) was a small American Marxist militant organization active in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally called the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit, and its members became known as the Ohio 7 when they were brought to trial. Between 1975 and 1984 the UFF carried out at least 20 bombings and nine bank robberies in the northeastern United States, targeting corporate buildings, courthouses, and military facilities. The UFF called in warnings before all of its bombings, attempting to avoid casualties.

In September 2006, the University of Southern Maine removed Manning's artwork from an art presentation, and apologized for allowing him to be heralded as a "political prisoner" by event organizers.

In Tom Manning's own words: "I was captured in 1985, sentenced to 58 years in federal prison for a series of bombings UFF El Salvador Communique carried out as armed propaganda against apartheid in South Africa, U.S. imperialism in Latin and Central America, including a concerted campaign against Mobil Oil and U.S. military targets in solidarity with the FALN’s campaign for the release of the five Nationalist prisoners. And against racist, genocidal capitalism here in the belly of the beast. I’m also sentenced to 80 years- (two 25 to life, plus 20 for armed robbery, plus 10 for escape) in New Jersey for the self-defense killing of a state trooper."

At present I am at the U.S penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. where I am classified as a high max prisoner restricted to a high accountability status (orange card) that requires me to be checked in every two hours during the daytime and evening hours. I am forced to work in the prison print shop, which has a higher security than any other job shop. And if I refuse or get fired from this job, I'll be returned to the hole.

This is the first prison I’ve been held in where I can walk around un-handcuffed and un-shackled. The prison authorities , because of my political beliefs and affiliations, have declared me a “threat to the secure and orderly running” of their prison system. As a result, I have spent the last 12 years in continual lockdown, from the control unit in New Jersey to U.S.P. Marion in Illinois, and ADX Super -max in Florence, Colorado.

Manning said it was in prison that he became politicized through his interactions with other prisoners.

I stand accused of being a part of the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson unit in the 1970’s and the United Freedom Front in the 1980’s. I am proud of the association and all that it implies!

Tom Manning