SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF. (LNS)—Huey P. Newton, co-founder and Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party, has been denied parole by the California Adult Authority. Huey is now in his second year of a 15-year term for manslaughter in the shooting of an Oakland policeman who had shot him in the stomach.
The Adult Authority is composed of middle-aged or older white businessmen or law enforcement officials chosen by the Governor for 16-year terms. They are responsible to the Governor, who is the ex-officio head of the board. Since they are political appointees, the decisions made by the Adult Authority are largely determined by the political climate in the state at the time decisions are made.
Huey’s case was reviewed at a meeting last week at the California Men’s Correctional (CMC) facility in San Luis Obispo.
It was reported that the parole board “noted Newton still refuses to perform routine tasks assigned to prisoners, and his privileges are restricted.” Huey has been in isolation, and forbidden the use of the library or exercise yards, since his confinement at CMC, because he refuses to work until prisoners are paid the State and Federal minimum wage for the labor that they do, and until the work assignments given black and white prisoners are equalized.
There have been numerous unsuccessful attempts to break Huey’s spirit, as well as efforts to antagonize him and lure him into losing his cool so they can add more years to his sentence. Nothing can break Huey’s spirit; he is in touch with the outside world, and continues to write on a variety of political topics.
CMC officials are still denying all press except major Establishment daily newspapers the right to interview Huey.
Two months ago his trial appeal was heard before the State Court, but there has been no decision as yet. His case will come before the parole board again in April 1971—if he’s still in jail then.