The Black Prisoners’ Caucus was founded in 1972 by Billy Bell as a means of combating social injustices inside the Washington State prison system.
In the time leading up to the creation of the BPC, all the vocational type jobs, i.e. butchers, culinary arts, barbers, laundry, janitorial, etc., were held by whites (including white men from biker gangs) and some Native Americans (who were their allies back then). This resulted in the Black, Asian and Latino prisoners being regulated to work in the prisons kitchens as dishwashers and servers.
The original members of BPC were of different races. While some members, like David Riggins, Antonio (Tony) Wheat, Angelo Pleasant, James Harris and Curtis Rogers are Black. There were others like Gary Taylor (White), Mike Butcan (Latino), and Tony Del Celmeo (Native American) who all served on the front lines to get the organization off the ground.
In 1973, Founding Father Billy Bell left the reformatory at Monroe and Curtis Rogers took over as the new leader of the organization. That same year the BPC began having members of the Black Student Union from the University of Washington come in to the prison to tutor math, law and other Associate and Bachelor Degree level curriculum’s that they were learning at the university. It did not take long for BPC to grow by leaps and bounds. In a short amount of time, they had gone from a handful of determined men, to over three hundred loyal members ready to move things forward both for themselves and the men and women who would come in the future.
The BPC turned to the examples set by the men at San Quentin in California to get ideas for how to structure the organization. Intitially, prison officials resisted allowing the men inside the prison to form a non-profit. So in 1975, they created a team of support outside of prison who were able to get the BPC non-profit status. With this status, it became easier to receive corporate donations from companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Jack in the Box, Kentucky Fried Chicken and K-Mart.
In 1980, members in Monroe were able to receive official recognition as board members of the non-profit for the BPC. With this recognition they were able to get the offices and telephones at the prison. This allowed them to be able to coordinate with the community members and corporations to help further the work of the BPC.
Rooted in its foundations of equality, the BPC has accomplished many things over the course of its first 1/2 century in existence, which has benefited all prisoners, staff and many people in society. The BPC was instrumental in getting the Extended Family Visit (EFV) Program started in Washington State after learning about the program being conducted in California.
Original ideas like the Motel Voucher Program, The Free Transportation for Visitors Program, BPC University (now known as University Beyond Bars and formerly known as Prisoners Education Network), and many more well known programs were all put forth and initially funded by the Black Prisoners’ Caucus in order to benefit everybody. These programs were and continue to be known throughout the State and have benefited countless lives.
Other life altering programs include, the Juvenile Awareness Program, which was modified from the Scared Straight Program at San Quentin. Unlike San Quentin, the BPC took a more rational approach to teaching troubled teens. The BPC’s approach was to share, educate, and empower. Sharing personal stories, educating them on the realities of prison, and empowering the teens by sharing resources of alternate things they could do and places they could turn for help in the community.
Learning from the lessons of the past, Black Prisoners’ Caucus President Kimonti Carter helped start a chain reaction of BPC chapters throughout Washington State when he transferred from Monroe to Clallam Bay Corrections Center in 2013. Once there, Kimonti developed the T.E.A.C.H. (Taking Education and Creating History) program. It was the success of this program that gave the BPC the political capital to spread throughout the State. Previously, BPC had started a chapter in McNeil Island, which closed in 2010; but otherwise had been an organization only at Monroe.
The BPC has now spread across the State and continues to work with partners to Build Positive Communities outside of prison. Many former members of the BPC are now prominent members of society who are addressing racial disparities in sentencing, employment practices, rental practices and other unjust systemic issues. The legacy of Billy Bell continues through the hard work of thousands of members who have continued this movement and have put in the hard work to address things in a manner that brings truth and lasting change.