Biography
Carl Harp was a prisoner and writer at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The May 9, 1981 newsletter described him as serving four consecutive life terms and as helping form Men Against Sexism to oppose sexual violence in prison. It reported his participation in a nonviolent twelve-hour occupation of the prison administration building in May 1979 and alleged that he was subsequently placed in solitary confinement, beaten and sexually assaulted by guards. These allegations are attributed to the contemporary newsletter’s review of his prison diary, Love and Rage.
The May 18, 1979 Revolutionary Worker identifies Shane Green and Carl Harp as two of three Walla Walla prisoners who took hostages on May 9 while demanding changes to prison conditions. They surrendered around midnight after a press conference and were put in segregation. The page 17 continuation says they remained in segregation after the general lockdown ended three days later. The newspaper alleged abuse and inadequate medical care; it does not give their original admission dates or underlying convictions. Revolutionary Worker, vol. 1 no. 3, May 18, 1979, original PDF page 2. Source: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/periodicals/revolutionary-worker/rw-1-3.pdf#page=2
Carl Harp was a prisoner and writer at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The May 9, 1981 newsletter described him as serving four consecutive life terms and as helping form Men Against Sexism to oppose sexual violence in prison. It reported his participation in a nonviolent twelve-hour occupation of the prison administration building in May 1979 and alleged that he was subsequently placed in solitary confinement, beaten and sexually assaulted by guards. These allegations are attributed to the contemporary newsletter’s review of his prison diary, Love and Rage. Four consecutive life terms reported as being served in May 1981; underlying convictions and dates are not supplied here. The prison protest reportedly led to retaliatory solitary confinement.
The October 15–November 14, 1981 Torch memorial individually reports Carl Harp was found dead in his Washington State Penitentiary cell at Walla Walla on September 5, 1981. The death date and death in custody are recorded; the publication disputes the official suicide account, so no cause of death is adjudicated here. The June 11 return described in his letter is a prison transfer, not the beginning of all imprisonment. Exact original admission and complete custody duration remain unknown.
