Resource: Johnson v. Wetzel

When this case was filed in 2016, Arthur “Cetewayo” Johnson was a politicized prisoner who had been held in solitary confinement by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC) since 1979. Convicted of homicide and sentenced to life without parole in 1971 when he was 18 years old, Johnson developed a close relationship with imprisoned members of the Black Liberation Movement. He was accused of being involved in attempted escapes between 1977 and 1987, though he never got off prison grounds or escaped custody during any of the alleged attempts.