Biography
Akil Al-Jundi (born Herbert Scott Dean in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands) was sentenced to life for murder in 1961 and sent to Attica, where he became a leader during the September 1971 prison uprising and was among those guarding the hostages in D-Yard; he was shot in the hand and face during the New York State Police retaking on September 13, 1971. He became the lead named plaintiff in the landmark civil-rights class action Al-Jundi v. Rockefeller (later Al-Jundi v. Mancusi), filed in 1974 on behalf of roughly 1,200 Attica survivors, which settled in 2000 for $8 million to the plaintiff class. After his 1976 parole he became a respected paralegal and prisoners' rights advocate. He died of complications from diabetes on August 13, 1997.
