Biography
Loretta Luckes was a Black Panther from Bridgeport, Connecticut who was in New Haven on a weekend visit when she was arrested on May 28, 1969 in connection with the killing of Alex Rackley, becoming one of the "New Haven Nine." Pregnant when arrested, she had her baby while held at the Niantic women's prison. Along with Warren Kimbro and George Sams she pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the state in exchange for the state's assurance that her parole would not be opposed.
The Black Panther’s December 20, 1969 New Haven bail-hearing report names Loretta Lukes, the Bridgeport Panther already recorded here as Loretta Luckes, among the prisoners who pleaded guilty. It quotes a Party spokesman saying she had been kept in near solitary confinement for the preceding six months. The isolation claim is attributed to that spokesman and is not an additional six months added to her existing detention; the article supplies no physical release date.
