Leonard Peltier Released from Prison After 49 Years, Returns Home to North Dakota

Image credits: NDN Collective

Leonard Peltier, the Native American activist who has always maintained his innocence in the killing of two FBI agents 50 years ago, returned to his home in North Dakota hours after his release from a federal prison in Florida. The act of clemency by then-President Joe Biden permits Peltier, who is 80 and has been in declining health for years, to serve his remaining days in home confinement. Peltier was transferred by jet to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, where he will be welcomed with celebrations to "reconnect with his home community and adjust back into life among his people," according to the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy organization.

The federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment prior to Peltier's release, citing security and privacy reasons, or discuss the conditions of his confinement. However, it is known that individuals released to home confinement are required to be tracked via electronic monitoring, must remain in their homes when not involved in approved activities, and may have their progress reviewed by halfway house services. The extent of the rules on Peltier were still being worked out, but his age and health should be taken into consideration, said Jenipher Jones, the lead lawyer in his case. Peltier will be receiving medical attention upon his release as he struggles with ailments, such as diabetes, hypertension, and partial blindness from a stroke.

Over the decades, Peltier's case has drawn prominent support from international human rights groups and civil rights icons, including Coretta Scott King; religious leaders, such as Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama; and congressional lawmakers and celebrities. However, Biden's decision to grant clemency was also condemned by law enforcement groups who said Peltier was unremorseful in the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams. The FBI contended that a subsequent testing of shell casing evidence did match extractor marks from a casing retrieved from the trunk of Coler's car with the AR-15 associated with Peltier. Despite this, many believe that Peltier's case is a miscarriage of justice, and his release is a victory for Indigenous rights and human rights defenders everywhere.

Here are some key points about Peltier's case and release: * Peltier was a member of the American Indian Movement, a grassroots activist organization that began in Minneapolis in the 1960s to challenge police brutality and the oppression of Indigenous rights. * He was at Pine Ridge in the wake of a drawn-out protest two years earlier at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where armed AIM activists and Oglala Sioux tribal members had occupied the town and clashed with federal law enforcement officers. * Peltier was identified as the only person on the reservation in possession of an AR-15 rifle that could fire the type of bullet that killed the agents, according to investigators. * Dozens of people had participated in the gunfight; at trial, two co-defendants were acquitted after they claimed self-defense. * When Peltier was tried separately in 1977, no witnesses who could identify him as the shooter were presented, and unknown to his defense lawyers at the time, the federal government had withheld a ballistics report indicating the fatal bullets didn't come from his weapon. * The release of Leonard Peltier is something that touches all of us, because all of us see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier, and we see a little bit of our struggle in Leonard Peltier. * Peltier's release is a day of victory and liberation for Indigenous people and human rights defenders everywhere, because of the symbolism of how long this has gone on and the injustice that exists in his life but also in the world.

Peltier's oldest son, Chauncey Peltier, was among those on Tuesday awaiting official word that he was out of prison. Chauncey Peltier, who lives in Oregon, said he plans to reunite with his father next month in North Dakota after last seeing him during a prison visit in 2015. He said he was grateful for those who worked behind the scenes to push for his father's release, and ultimately, to Biden for intervening. The NDN Collective, which helped lead the push to free Leonard Peltier, will host a celebratory event and community feed at the Sky Dancer Event Center in Belcourt, North Dakota to welcome Peltier back to his homelands after 49 years of wrongful incarceration.