The Mutineers

One morning last October, 27 prisoners at the Presidio stockade in San Francisco disrupted roll call by staging a sitdown demonstration. The inmates said they were protesting against the action of a guard, who had needlessly shotgunned a suicidal prisoner trying to escape. They also complained of the unsanitary conditions of the stockade. The Army charged the 27 men with mutiny, and at the first of a series of courts-martial, three of them received sentences of up to 16 years (TIME, Feb. 21). There was an immediate public outcry at the harsh sentences, which were subsequently reduced to two years by the Army Judge Advocate.

Since then, five more of the accused have received penalties ranging from nine months to six years. Last week at Fort Ord, Calif., twelve others were found guilty of mutiny--despite defense pleas during the 35-day trial that the men were emotionally disturbed by the shooting of their fellow prisoner. They were sentenced to six to 15 months at hard labor. Of the remaining seven accused mutineers, two were found guilty of lesser offenses and got up to six months, two are in hospitals, and three others escaped and have not been heard from since.

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