Play depicting Lucasville uprising on tour
Fourteen years ago at a correctional facility in southern Ohio, a prison uprising dominated the news for several days and riveted the nation. At the end of the event, several inmates were dead or injured, one guard was dead, and five men were sent to death row to be punished for Officer Vallandingham’s death.
In 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio presents a new theatrical release entitled “Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising,” which will chronicle the actual events of the uprising and shed new light on the so-called Lucasville 5.
Convicted of killing the officer, these five men are currently awaiting execution on Ohio ’s death row. Since their conviction, evidence has been uncovered suggesting that they are in fact innocent and that the state may have manufactured testimony against them.
In 2006, the ACLU of Ohio filed an amicus brief in support of one of the Lucasville 5, Siddique Hasan. In the brief, the ACLU of Ohio stated that prosecutors recruited a prisoner named Kenneth Law to present perjured testimony. They threatened Law with trial for murder if he did not say what the State wanted. When Law told prosecutors that the murderer was a man named Anthony Lavelle, Law said they responded that his “story would have to change, because Lavelle was a state witness.”
For more information about the tour including locations, dates, and ticket information, log on to www.acluohio.org or call 216-472-2209.
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