Biography
New Afrikan prisoner and writer appearing in 1980s political-prisoner directories as Kalima Aswad / Robert Duren, register B24120. His own writing confirms that identity. Official records identify his underlying murder, robbery and assault convictions, an arrest on February 28, 1969, and a death sentence modified to life imprisonment in 1973. His political-prisoner classification in support directories is distinct from the nature of those underlying charges; actual prison admission and eventual release remain unverified.
Identity and underlying custody chronology
Aswad's own 2007 essay is signed Kalima Aswad (Robert Duren), number B24120. That number matches the Governor's record and links this profile to the underlying case, rather than to similarly named people. Aswad's signed prison-overcrowding essay.
The California Supreme Court identifies Robert Lee Duren and records his February 28, 1969 arrest in San Diego. Transfer to Los Angeles later that day was not freedom from custody. The opinion confirms the convictions and modifies the death penalty to life imprisonment on April 2, 1973; that appellate date is not the original sentencing or prison-admission date. The arrest predates the 1980s but belongs to the underlying imprisonment represented by the existing directory-based case, not a newly invented 1980s arrest. People v. Duren, 9 Cal.3d 218 (1973).
The official B-24120 review corroborates the arrest and life sentence. Its signed November 21, 2012 decision reverses the parole board: no release date is inferred. Support-directory political classification is not evidence that the underlying convictions themselves concerned Black-liberation activity. No verified portrait, exact prison-admission day or eventual discharge has been established; current custody status is not determined by this historical decision. Governor's original review, physical pages 188–190.
