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Th
C
G. Ï. OFFICE
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tel:(202) 244-2831
P.O.BOX  9746. Washington, U.C.   20016
PRESS STATEMENT
RELEASE DATE:  WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1970
INFORMATION:
Marilyn Moorhead tel: 244-2831
/
Eight army enlisted men at Port Benning, Georgia, have charged
their brigade commanding officer with illegal siezure
selves; confinement at hard labor without trial; denial of equal
protection of the law; and with inflicting cruel and unusual
on them
of
law; and with inflicting
punishment on themselves and other members of the brigade.
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The charges are contained in a class action suit
November 10, in Federal District
Golo OFFICE, on behalf of the eight
C ourt, C olumbus,
enlisted men,
filed yesterday,
Georgia. The
has retained
Mr. Howard Moore,
of Atlanta, Ga. to
Jr.,
plead
Southern Legal Assistance Project (SLAP)
the suit which seeks a declaratory
judgement and injunctive relief.
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Named as defendents are Major General Orwin C. Talbot, Commanding
General, Fort Benning, Ga.; Colonel Willard Latham, Commanding
Officer of the 197th Infantry Brigade (to which the men are assigned); and Sergeant First Class (E-7), James Clark, Custodian of
the 197th Correctional Custody Facility.
The suit states that Colonel Latham with the support of General
Talbot established the 197th Correctional Custody Facility in
March, 1970. The facility, subject of a major feature article in
many newspapers Sunday, November 1, is a stark, barbed-wire enclosure to which men of the 197th—THE MAJORITY OF WHOM ARE VIET
NAM VETERANS—are sentenced to confinement at hard labor for up
to thirty days without a trial.
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It is generally conceded that treatment in the Correctional Cus-
than that accorded court-martialled
tody Facility is
the
more
Post
severe
Stockade. Aside
rather
from being punitive
the "normal" hard-labor
prisoners m
than correctional, and other complaints,
work day of 16 hours is extended to 20 hours for the slightest
infraction within the facility.
The investigation and documentation of the conditions and treat
ment within the Correctional Custody Facility which became
basis of both the Sundav feature article and the lawsuit was
the
Sunday feature
G.I.
ac
complished by the G.I. OFFICE, a Washington based organization
concerned with the rights of service men and women which inves
tigates complaints from GIf
s
m9
The two field representatives dispatched by the G.I. OFFICE to
investigate the 197th Correctional Custody Facility were Phil
Lehman and Jim Pahura, two former officers recently discharged
from the Navy because of their involvment with the Concerned
Officers Movement (COM).