Russell Melvin Shoats

Russell "Maroon" Shoatz (born August 23, 1943) is a founding member of the Black Unity Council, former member of the Black Panther Party, a "soldier" in the Black Liberation Army, and convicted murderer.

Incarceration

Shoats was convicted of murdering a police officer in Pennsylvania and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. On February 20, 2014, Shoatz was returned to the prison's general population after being held in solitary confinement for over 22 consecutive years.

The most recent dismissal of his legal counsel's appeal for his return to the regular prison population highlights the fulcrum of the controversy:

"In the volatile atmosphere of a prison, an inmate easily may constitute an unacceptable threat to the safety of other prisoners and guards even if he himself has committed no misconduct; rumor, reputation, and even more imponderable factors may suffice to spark potentially disastrous incidents. The judgment of prison officials in this context, like that of those making parole decisions, turns largely on purely subjective evaluations and on predictions of future behavior."

On May 8, 2013, Shoats filed a lawsuit to end the conditions of isolation in his 7-by-12 foot cell, always illuminated by lights, for 23–24 hours per day.

Publications

• "Liberation or Gangsterism: Freedom or Slavery" (see )
• Maroon the Implacable: The Collected Writings of Russell Maroon Shoatz (see )

• Jacob Miller. "Liberation or Gangsterism: Freedom or Slavery – By Russell Maroon Shoatz « Free Maroon!". Utmaroonformation.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2016-04-13. 
• Russell Maroon Shoatz; Quincy Saul; Fred Ho; Matt Meyer; Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge; Chuck D. "Maroon the Implacable: The Collected Writings of Russell Maroon Shoatz". Amazon.com. ISBN 9781604860597. Retrieved 2016-04-13.