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Supporting Materials for Sir! No Sir!
Free The Fort Dix 38!
On June 5, as a result of deliberate provocations by stockade authorities, a short-lived uprising took place in the Fort Dix stockade. More than 200 prisoners participated, breaking windows, hurling foot lockers through windows, etc., after they had been forced to stand in formation for five hours without a break through the hottest part of the day.
The uprising took place in a stockade holding 750 prisoners although designed for only 350, and was a direct response to conditions there. Moreover, 90% of the prisoners in any stockade are not criminals in any reasonable sense of the word; they are there for being AWOL, i.e., for something that is a "crime" only in the military.
Now as a result of the uprising which they themselves caused, Fort Dix authorities have decided to create their own version of the Presidio case. Thirty-eight prisoners are being held for court martial on a variety of charges, including arson, conspiracy, and riot. Some of them, if convicted, could be sentenced to as much as 43 years in prison.
The Army must not be allowed to keep these men behind bars. A defense effort of the same magnitude as that for the Presidio 27 must be built to demand the immediate release of the Fort Dix 38.
GI Press Service, vol. 1, no. 4