Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comSpyder Leaves the White Man’s Prison After 49 Years Behind Bars
~ Ron Leith
In late January 2025, I received a call from my cousin,
Gaby Strong, telling me Leonard Peltier was going to
be released. President Joe Biden commuted his
sentence at the last minute of his administration.
President Joe Biden commuted Leonard Peltier’s
sentence from life to home confinement. Of the
many Democratic presidents who held office during
Leonard’s imprisonment, only Joe Biden had the strength of mercy to help Leonard. Leonard Peltier had been wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit.
Leonard Peltier was released from Coleman Penitentiary at 8:00 a.m. on February 18, 2025.
The original plan was for NDN Collective to fly Leonard to Grand Forks, ND, then a caravan would escort him to the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. Due to the event's notoriety, this plan underwent several changes.
NDN Collective, an American Indian non-profit based in Rapid City, South Dakota, made arrangements to transport Leonard home from the Federal Penitentiary in Florida to his home on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota.
The entire trip took less than twelve hours. Leonard’s plane finally landed in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. A large contingent of supporters met him at the tiny airport. They assembled a caravan to escort him the last 100 miles home.
After the caravan passed Rolla, North Dakota, a town that borders Belcourt, ND on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, they were met by hundreds of Turtle Mountain friends and family. Their cars lined the highway on both sides for three miles, with Welcome Home signs, cheers and tears. Many had not seen Leonard for more than fifty years. It was the biggest homecoming event in the tribes history.
Leonard spent 49 years in various Federal Penitentiaries as a result of being falsely convicted for the shooting of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975.
Most of the events from that time were recounted in the book “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,” written by Peter Mathiessen (1983).
A documentary film directed by Michael Apted and narrated by Robert Redford debuted in 1999 on the events surrounding the 1975 shootings that took place at the Jumping Bull ranch in Pine Ridge. The film, produced by Arthur Chobanian, recounts many of the events as seen by people who were there at the time. From 1973 to 1975 and beyond, the Pine Ridge Indian reservation experienced very tumultuous times.
Over 100 people were shot and wounded or killed during what many call the Reign of Terror.
These events and more were also covered in Leonard Peltier’s book “Prison Writings, My Life is My Sundance,” Leonard Peltier, United States prisoner #89637-132 (1999), with introduction by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe.