Biography
Black Muslim prisoner at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, sentenced to death for the killing of correctional officer Robert Vallandingham during the April 1993 Lucasville prison uprising — the longest prison riot in U.S. history. Sentenced alongside Keith LaMar (Bomani Shakur), Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Carlos Sanders), and others. Movement supporters have long argued the prosecutions were political — the state needed to convict leaders to shore up the legitimacy of the violent retaking — and the trials were marred by withheld exculpatory evidence and snitch testimony.
Pre-Lucasville state admission
The official Ohio corrections record for JamesWere,A173245 confirms April15,1983 stateadmission and distinguishes two LucasCountyrobbery dockets from a later RichlandCountyassault and1993Lucasvilleproceeding. Jailcredit doesnot establish exact arrest; effective sentence dates are not automatically hearingdates. No actual release isreported. Existingidentifiedportrait retained.
The Lucasville account uses James Were, the alias of the existing Namir Abdul Mateen profile, and names him among five prisoners sentenced to death following the uprising. It reports high-security Ohio State Penitentiary confinement and continuing litigation, not completed execution or release.
The Dragons Fire, National Jericho Movement Newsletter, vol. 6, July–August 2018, PDF page 44.
