The Sons of Light: The White Supremacist Guard Organization that Caused the 1985 Indiana State Reformatory Uprising
Indianapolis newspaper article about the Feb. 1, 1985 Uprising featuring John “Balagoon” Cole and Christopher “Naeem” Trotter.
On February 1st, 1985, a prisoner rebellion at the Indiana State Reformatory (ISR; now Pendleton CF) shook the Indiana Department of Correction. Prisoners angry about guards beating a well-loved and respected jailhouse lawyer named Lokmar Abdul Wadood Yazidi, s/n Lincoln Love, confronted the guards in attempt to get into the Captain’s office where Lokmar was being beaten with an illegal baton/bat while unconscious and in chains, after having been brutalized by a cell extraction squad (prison SWAT) on the Maximum Restraint Unit.
IDOC Watch has obtained a copy of the deposition of ISR guard Michael Richardson, given to the defense attorneys prior to the 1987 trial of the leaders of the ‘85 uprising. Richardson, who had been stabbed during the uprising, attempted to shed light on the existence of the Sons of Light white supremacist guard organization and their practices in his deposition. He had tried to expose the Sons of Light by giving information to the Indiana State Police and the FBI prior to the uprising.
Richardson’s testimony during the trial was intentionally curtailed by the prosecution and judge every time he tried to speak on the Sons of Light, which he describes in the deposition as a Ku Klux Klan “splinter group” organized specifically for ISR guards, and the pattern of brutal beatings of Black prisoners at ISR that had provoked the rebellion. The most relevant section of the document, describing the Sons of Light, is excerpted and linked in the first image below. The entire document, over 150 pages, is linked in the second image below. Click on the images to read these documents in full.
ISR guard Michael Richardson’s testimony has never reached the media or the general public, until this day.
Had it not been for the heroic actions of the uprising leaders, especially John “Balagoon” Cole and Christopher “Naeem” Trotter, Lokmar would have beaten to death by the guards, and others on the Maximum Restraint Unit would likely have been brutalized, if not killed, as well. In court proceedings and investigations following the uprising, it was revealed that the cell extraction team that attacked Lokmar had explicit orders to kill him.
After confronting guards and attempting to get through to the Captain’s office in order to rescue Lokmar, Balagoon & Naeem were forced to take other guards hostage and take refuge in a cellhouse in order to survive, as all the guards at the prison were now coming after them to kill them. They ended up leading the take-over of J cellhouse, which lasted for 16 hours and ended in negotiations after the State Police, DOC administrators, National Guard, and local & Indianapolis media had gotten involved and come to the prison. During the take-over prisoners stood together in solidarity, due to the fact that they had already been organizing in collective self-defense against the guards brutality, through an organization they called the Black Dragons, which the guards mischaracterized as criminal gang. The prisoners issued a list of demands during the cellhouse takeover pertaining to the guards’ systematic racism, overcrowding, and lack of recreation. The DOC commissioner was fired as a result of the uprising, and some of the guards involved in the beating of Lokmar were sentenced to federal prison.
John “Balagoon” Cole and Christopher “Naeem” Trotter remain in prison to this day, having been sentenced to 88 years and 142 years, respectively, for their leadership of the rebellion. They have served 33 and 20 years in solitary confinement, also respectively, in retaliation and as extra punishment for their leadership of prisoner resistance. At the time of the uprising, they both had less than two years remaining to serve in prison.
Images below, left to right: Recent photo of Balagoon, newspaper clipping with picture of Lokmar referencing his involvement in another rebellion against guard brutality in 1980, and headshot of Naeem
Balagoon and Naeem were wrongfully convicted, and all of their subsequent appeals have been denied.
Please read about how you can support Christopher “Naeem” Trotter’s struggle for freedom here, and follow @Freedom4Chris on Twitter for updates. Read about how you can support John “Balagoon” Cole’s struggle for freedom here. Sadly, Lokmar passed away of Covid-19 at Indiana State Prison in December 2020.
Click on the image above to read the section of Michael Richardson’s deposition where he describes the Sons of Light organization
Click on the image above to read ISR Guard Michael Richardson’s entire deposition, given to the defense attorneys for those targeted for prosecution as leaders of the Feb. 1, 1985 uprising.