rch for hum n n
om ry ndtob
o
ire per it,
t the LCMId&Ia ..
said.
About 325 'inmates, all of them
field workers on the 18,000 acre
prison f I'm, were involved in the
,IDcldent, Islant warden Richard
Peabody d.
, Peabody refused, however, to
comment on reports that the job ac­
don linked to the punishment of
prisoners bo refused to build a gur-
y for inmates n need to death
by lethal injection.
An inmate w executed in the
tate's electric chair I t weekend,
and the state is 10 change i15 execu­
'on method to injection on Septem­
ber 15.
"I THINK IT w callo and
inhuman of prison personnel to ex-
; # ct prisoners to build an instrument
of death for fellow prisoners," said
Sarah Ottinger, a staff attorney for
the Loyola Resource Center in Baton
Rouge.
The protesting inmates were
locked down in the prison dormi tory,
officials said, and were awaiting po •
sible d' iplinary action.
A Federal judge in Baton Rouge
late the me day granted an emer-
ency request by prison officials to
exceed court ordered population
"mits, said Annette Viator, a legal
counsel for the Louisiana Depart.
ment of Public, Safety and Correc­
tions.
.:
dO
y
prisonc in puniahmebt
-We locked down 325. Some of
them were prisoners inside, but the
v t majority were field workers,"
Viator said.
BY ONY 0
ASSOCIATBD J'R&!S
AS HOW the strike began,
Viator id it was set in motion Mon­
day afternoon when two inmate
refused to build the gurney.
"Basically, you ha<t two inmates
who refused to build a gurney for the
use in lethal injection. Several more
followed ... although it, n't clear
they 'knew what they were prot t­
ing," Viator id. "Then, thi after­
noon, we had a fi�ld crew that
refused to work, allegedly in sym-'
pathy .... "
"We applied to, the court to ee if
we could exceed the federal limi
that had been set ... and he (the judge)
approved."
S PRISON, Peg 13
Liberian refugee
ATLANTA - The
Urban League opened i annual
meeting Sunday, July 21 by meshing
liberal and conservati into a new
view on racial i it ya cy to
functioning in an etbnically diverse
America.
"We've' become
race relations in terms
while," pre ident John
the keynote address. "It's a m ta
to think we can go it in a
dive tety ..
"Those of us ho grew n the q
civil rights st ggle must co to by:' Jacob •• fj�Thld'A ___
terms with thi revolutionary De . hopping on the b.IItCI�".�tfta
era," Jacob said. "We need to ad· fashionabl new tre
dress old paradigms and adj t m mea can:fu1ly re-ex:amlali.-.MJai
to this new era. t, do in the light of ClUI� __
The group, which is holding its cumstances. tt
ermual convention here, called upon 1be league became the fi t Civil
Blae to do more to help the 1 rig organization to decide not
yet urged the federal gover. ''IlC to e the nomination of Tho , •
work harder for the inner city poor, Georgia native and staunch advoca
The group also decided not to op- of self-help for minority advance­
pose the nomination of conserv live ment.
federal judge Clarence Thom to Th Con lonal Black Cauc
the U.S. Supreme Court, but blasted oppos the nomi lion, while the
the nation's high court for insen- National atio for the Advan-
sitivity on civil rights issues. ACE, Pag.'13
dyin
of dise
BY CLARENCE
ROY-MACAULAY
ASSOClA TED PRESS WRITER
WATBRLOO, un LeoDe (AP) _
Liberian refugees risked everything
to cape civil war at home nd a
rebel invasion of this neighboring
country. 1bey are safe now, but orne
are dying of disease.
Measles, diarrhea and m lnutri­
tion are the main killers and mo t
victims are children, said J es Col­
lier, chairman of the Li erian
Refugee Commit e.
Collier pointed to a cemetery next
to the camp, which belters 5.500
people, and aid more than two
dozen had died since May.
Aid officials blamed the
on a water. shortage and id t
health of refugee bould improve
when new wells are du •
An official of the U.N. World
Food Program exp cd hope t t
reducing food ratio will induce tbe
•• 'REFUGE • Page 13
REDERICK POWELL,
• Truck: "We are till in a
ion. The cut in elfare
ping us in a recession,"