Biography
Dennis Banks was an Anishinaabe organizer and a co-founder of the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis in 1968. With Russell Means he led the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties and the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation, and faced the same nine-month federal prosecution that ended in dismissal of all charges in September 1974. He later faced an unrelated South Dakota state prosecution arising from a 1973 protest at the Custer County courthouse; rather than surrender to that sentence he went on the run in 1975, living under sanctuary in California (granted by Governor Jerry Brown) and later on the Onondaga Nation in New York. He finally surrendered in 1984 and served 18 months at the South Dakota State Penitentiary at Sioux Falls.
The 1973 Wounded Knee occupation began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 members of the Oglala Lakota and the American Indian Movement seized the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, demanding hearings on broken treaties and the removal of corrupt tribal president Dick Wilson. The occupation lasted 71 days, during which two AIM members were killed by federal gunfire, twelve were wounded, and approximately 1,200 people were arrested. The federal prosecution of Means and Banks ran for nine months; on September 16, 1974, Chief Judge Fred Nichol of the District of South Dakota dismissed all charges, ruling that the FBI had altered evidence, conducted illegal electronic surveillance, and that an FBI special agent had committed perjury on the stand.
Separate Oregon case disposition
The U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society’s Spring 2002 newsletter, reporting a panel with prosecution and defense lawyers and judges from United States v. Loud Hawk, states that the case concluded on March 7, 1988 with Banks pleading guilty to one charge and receiving five years of probation, while charges against KaMook Banks were dismissed. This Oregon federal matter is distinct from the South Dakota Custer prosecution and state imprisonment. A probation term and the end of long-running litigation are not evidence of twelve years in jail or a physical prison-release date. No custody endpoints or duration are changed.
The Militant, July 16, 1976, page 3, reports that Dennis Banks could not attend an Oregon hearing on July 2 because he was actually jailed in San Francisco and unable to raise bail. It distinguishes California fugitive charges from the Portland charges dismissed at that hearing. The Oregon nonappearance warrant did not establish a fresh California admission. This is a distinct documented 1976 custody phase; no exact admission, release, duration or completed prison sentence is established.
The May 1976 Black Panther report described the dismissal of Oregon federal firearms and explosives charges against Dennis Banks and three co-defendants by Judge Robert C. Belloni for government delay. It separately noted that Banks was still resisting extradition over the South Dakota prosecution. The Oregon disposition is not a physical release date and does not belong to the unrelated 1947 Journey of Reconciliation prisoner also named Dennis Banks.
The Militant reported that FBI agents arrested Banks at Lehman Brightman’s El Cerrito home on January 24, 1976. Brightman was also arrested and had actually been released by the February 3 defense meeting. Banks remained subject to bail and contested extradition. The report does not establish whether this California confinement continued uninterrupted into the later documented San Francisco custody.
The Militant, February 20, 1976, volume40 number7, PDF page 15.
The Spring/Summer 1985 Write Through the Walls directory individually lists Dennis Banks under historical prisoner number 22103, with correspondence directed to SCR, PO Box 369, Crawford Hall 211E, Springfield, South Dakota. The original name, individual number and political-prisoner group context match this existing profile. This is dated historical correspondence information, not a present mailing instruction or an independently established admission, transfer, release or completed custody duration.
CovertAction Information Bulletin 24 reports that Banks received a three-year South Dakota sentence on October 8, 1984, following his September 13 surrender.
