Curry

Gregory Curry

  On April 11, 1993, I was 27 years old serving my third year on a 21-25 year sentence for robbery. I had been at SOCF for several years and had witnessed and experienced things going from bad to worse following the schoolteacher’s death and the appointment of the new warden, but I had no idea that things were about to erupt into a full-blown riot.

  On the day of the uprising, I went to work inside the gym to oversee a basketball tournament that ended around 2:00pm. After the tournament was over, I was escorted to the yard to await the termination of afternoon rec, which was due to end at approximately 2:45pm. When the alarm sounded to alert us that it was time to start lining up to re-enter the building, I started walking towards L-block and noticed a commotion at the entrance. Apparently a C/O had been attacked and was now lying in a pool of his own blood in the middle of the passageway leading into the block. At this point, it was still unclear what had provoked the incident but as everyone was standing around to see what would happen next, a large group of prisoners started pouring out into the yard claiming that all the C/Os were being attacked. As more and more prisoners came out, it became evident that all the cells were being opened and according to what was being said, all kinds of madness was going on inside; property was being destroyed, cells were being ransacked and robbed, etc…

  By now, things had reached the point of pandemonium and people were running around in all directions trying to see what was happening. It wasn’t long before a group pf masked inmates appeared on the yard to announce that they had taken over L-block. Shortly thereafter, the perimeter of the prison was completely surrounded by armed guards, as if they had been on standby, presumably sent to prevent anyone from scaling the fence. The standoff had officially begun, leaving us who had chosen to stay on the yard stranded in the middle of no-man’s land.

  As darkness approached, people started banding together in little groups for warmth and protection. The wooden boxing ring was ripped apart to provide wood for the several bonfires now burning. I jumped the K-side fence to borrow blankets from prisoners who were still confined inside their cells. Around 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning, the Ohio Highway Patrol showed up and ordered us under gunpoint to enter K-side gymnasium. Once inside, we were stripped naked and pushed on the floor to await our new cell location.