Editing Assata Shakur (section)

==Imprisonment==
[[File:Rikers Island.jpg|thumb|Shakur was kept in [[solitary confinement]] on [[Rikers Island]] for 21&nbsp;months.]]

After the Turnpike shootings, Shakur was briefly held at the [[Garden State Youth Correctional Facility]]<ref>Churchill and Vander Wal, 2002, p. 410.</ref> in Yardville, [[Burlington County, New Jersey]], and later moved to [[Rikers Island|Rikers Island Correctional Institution for Women]] in New York City<ref name="scheffler203"/> where she was kept in solitary confinement<ref name="muhammad">Muhammad, Nisa Islam (May 16, 2005), "[http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_1990.shtml Assata: The stakes are raised]". ''Final Call News''. Retrieved on May 9, 2008.</ref><ref name="nyt41277">''The New York Times'' (April 12, 1977), "Suit Seeks Transfer For Mrs. Chesimard", p. 71, column 2.</ref> for 21 months. Shakur's only daughter, Kakuya Shakur, was conceived during her trial<ref name="preg"/> and born on September 11, 1974, in the "fortified psychiatric ward" at Elmhurst General Hospital in Queens,<ref name="qacquit"/><ref>''The New York Times'' (September 1, 1974). "Heavy Security for Mrs. Chesimard", p.&nbsp;40.</ref> where Shakur stayed for a few days before being returned to Rikers Island. In her autobiography, Shakur claims that she was beaten and restrained by several large female officers after refusing a medical exam from a prison doctor shortly after giving birth.<ref name="Shakur, 1987, p. 161"/> After a bomb threat was made against Judge Appleby, Sheriff Joseph DeMarino lied to the press about the exact date of her transfer to [[Clinton Correctional Facility for Women]]; he later claimed the threat to be the cause of his falsification.<ref>''The New York Times'' (March 31, 1977), "Sheriff Says He Lied About Transfer Of Mrs. Chesimard to Aid Security". Section 2, p. 6, column 3.</ref> She was also transferred from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women to a special area staffed by women guards at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, where she was the only female inmate,<ref>Krebs, Albin (April 8, 1978). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1978/04/08/archives/notes-on-people.html Notes on People]". ''The New York Times'', p. 21, column 3. Retrieved on June 15, 2008.</ref> for "security reasons".<ref name="NYT_1977-04-08">Waggoner, Walter H. (April 8, 1977), "[https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/08/archives/trenton-topics-court-absolves-felons-in-killings-of-accomplices-by.html Trenton Topics; Court Absolves Felons in Killings Of Accomplices by Their Victims"]. ''The New York Times'', Section 2, p. 13, column 4.</ref> When Kunstler first took on Shakur's case (before meeting her), he described her basement cell as "adequate", which nearly resulted in his dismissal as her attorney.<ref name="k276">Kunstler, 1994, p. 276.</ref> On May 6, 1977, Judge [[Clarkson Fisher]], of the [[United States District Court for the District of New Jersey]], denied Shakur's request for an injunction requiring her transfer from the all-male facility to Clinton Correctional Facility for Women; the Third Circuit affirmed.<ref name="nyt41277"/><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 6, 1977 |page=4 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/05/06/archives/mrs-chesimards-bid-to-transfer-to-another-prison-denied-by-judge.html |title=Mrs. Chesimard's Bid to Transfer To Another Prison Denied by Judge}}</ref><ref>Chesimard v. Mulcahy, 570 F.2d 1184 (3d Cir. 1978).</ref>

On April 8, 1978, Shakur was transferred to [[Alderson Federal Prison Camp]] in [[Alderson, West Virginia]], where she met Puerto Rican nationalist [[Lolita Lebrón]]<ref name="scheffler203"/> and Mary Alice, a Catholic nun, who introduced Shakur to the concept of [[liberation theology]].<ref name="scheffler206">Scheffler, 2002, p. 206.</ref> At Alderson, Shakur was housed in the Maximum Security Unit, which also contained several members of the [[Aryan Sisterhood]] as well as [[Sandra Good]] and [[Lynette Fromme]], followers of [[Charles Manson]].<ref>Scheffler, 2002, p. 204.</ref>

On February 20, 1979,<ref>''The New York Times'' (November 3, 1979) "Miss Chesimard Escapes in New Jersey" p. 25</ref> after the Maximum Security Unit at Alderson was closed,<ref name="scheffler206"/> Shakur was transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey.<ref name="scheffler203"/> According to her attorney Lennox Hinds, Shakur "understates the awfulness of the condition in which she was incarcerated", which included vaginal and anal searches.<ref>Jones, 1998, p. 379.</ref> Hinds argues that "in the history of New Jersey, no woman pretrial detainee or prisoner has ever been treated as she was, continuously confined in a men's prison, under twenty-four-hour surveillance of her most intimate functions, without intellectual sustenance, adequate medical attention, and exercise, and without the company of other women for all the years she was in custody".<ref name="b159">Browder, 2006, p. 159.</ref>

Shakur was identified as a political prisoner as early as October 8, 1973, by Angela Davis,<ref>{{cite news |last=Cummings |first=Judith |date=October 8, 1973 |title=Angela Davis Asks Support for 'Political Prisoners' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/08/archives/angela-davis-asks-support-for-political-prisoners.html |newspaper=The New York Times |page=70}}</ref> and in an April 3, 1977, ''The New York Times'' advertisement purchased by the ''Easter Coalition for Human Rights''.<ref>''The New York Times'' (April 3, 1977), "Display Ad 68 – No Title", p. 46.</ref> An international panel of seven jurists were invited by Hinds to tour a number of U.S. prisons, and concluded in a report filed with the [[United Nations Commission on Human Rights]] that the conditions of her solitary confinement were "totally unbefitting any prisoner".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meyer|first1=Matt|title=Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners|date=2008|publisher=PM Press|isbn=9781604860351|url=https://archive.org/details/lfr_20221206/page/129/mode/2up|language=en|page=130}}</ref><ref name="b159"/> Their investigation, which focused on alleged human rights abuses of political prisoners, cited Shakur as "one of the worst cases" of such abuses and including her in "a class of victims of FBI misconduct through the [[COINTELPRO]] strategy and other forms of illegal government conduct who as political activists have been selectively targeted for provocation, false arrests, entrapment, fabrication of evidence, and spurious criminal prosecutions".<ref name="kirsta"/><ref>''Covert Action Quarterly'' (October 26, 1998). "[http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/093.html The U.N. Petition]". Retrieved on May 9, 2008.</ref> [[Amnesty International]], however, did not regard Shakur as a former political prisoner.<ref name="friedly">Friedly, Jock (January 13, 1999), "Waters seeks asylum for cop killer", ''The Hill'', p. 1.</ref>