October Washington Memo

Leonard Peltier languishes in prison + Cop City repression escalates

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This October 9 marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Unfortunately, on this day designed to celebrate the history of indigenous peoples, American Indian activist Leonard Peltier will remain confined in federal prison. On September 12, Peltier marked his 79th birthday. Peltier has spent the last 46 years of his life in federal prison. Many of those years have been spent in prolonged solitary confinement--a form of torture--and since COVID-19 he has been “locked down” at USP Coleman unable to receive physical visitors.