Biography
Donald Noble was incarcerated at Attica in 1971 and helped establish the Attica Liberation Faction. The prisoners' manifesto named him as one of five representatives authorized to negotiate with state and prison officials. The group organized political education and demands for improved prison conditions.
This profile concerns political organizing during imprisonment. It does not establish that the original conviction was politically motivated. Exact custody boundaries and the later release history remain unresolved.
Donald Noble identified himself as Don Noble from the Bronx in a February 1972 interview. He said he was one of the five signatories to the manifesto submitted in July 1971, described organizing history, law and political education, and alleged beatings and barefoot walking over broken glass after the September 13 retaking before placement in segregation. He reported lost family photographs, eyeglasses and legal materials and contested institutional accusations that he had taken hostages from the metal shop and onto the catwalk. These institutional allegations are not a newly proved criminal conviction. Source: We Are Attica, PDF pages 13-17, 20, 22-23, 25-26, 28-29, https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Prisons_Attica/510.we.are.attica.pdf
The March 1973 Attica News roster prints Donald Noble among the uprising prisoner defendants, linked to indictment 2, 5: attempted murder; 34 first-degree kidnapping counts. The table lists maximum statutory exposure, not sentences actually imposed or time served; no custody dates or duration are inferred. Source: https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Attica/510.Prisons.AtticaNewsVol1No1.pdf#page=6
Noble’s reproduced testimony describes helping submit the July demands to prison officials, the governor and legislators, and organizing a silent fast and black armbands after George Jackson’s death. The primer names him among the five Attica Liberation Faction founders. This supports political activity during imprisonment, without establishing that the original conviction was political or supplying an admission or release day.
Attica Prison Uprising 101: A Short Primer (Project NIA, September 2011), PDF page 9.
