Bill Dunne is an anti-authoritarian political prisoner imprisoned for an attempted 1979 prison break from the King County Jail in Seattle, Washington. Dunne and his former codefendant, Larry Giddings, were accused by police of being “members of a small, heavily armed group of revolutionaries,” associated with the Wellspring Communion.
Based primarily in San Francisco, the Wellspring Communion, engaged in radical Leftist political outreach, merging the ideas of communism and anarchism into a single praxis. Though active mainly in the Bay area, the organization was said to have practice guerrilla training on a property in Humboldt County. According to media reports, the group – once known as the Tribal Thumb- was an offshoot of the Symbionese Liberation Army and with membership having backgrounds in “the Students for a Democratic Society, Weatherman, Black Panthers, Black Liberation Army and other guerrilla families.” Despite these accusations, none of this has ever been confirmed.
Prior to Dunne’s arrest, another accused member of the Wellspring Communion, Artie Ray Dufur (also known as Artie Ray Baker), was arrested for the murder of a border inspector that took place during a scuffle. Baker was scheduled to have his sentence hearing at the King County Courthouse on October 19, 1979. Dunne and Giddings, along with unknown individuals from a San Francisco Anarchist collective, organized a no-holds-barred attempt to free Baker.
On Sunday evening, October 14, 1979, seven inmates, including Baker, escaped from the high security jail on the 10th floor of the King County Courthouse. Using a gun smuggled into the jail, the inmates capture the guards, locked them in a holding tank and took over the jail’s central control room. Within 20 minutes, the escapees were on the street, heading for their getaway cars.
Waiting for the escapees in two separate cars were Bill Dunne and Larry Giddings. As escaped prisoners climbed into the red mustang driven by Bill Dunne, an officer spotted the men. While in pursuit, the officer opened fire, injuring Dunne in his left shoulder and killing one of the escapees. Dunne lost control of his car, crashed the car into a cement retaining wall and was arrested by the police.
While the police were detaining two escapees who had fled after the crash, the second get away car, driven by Larry Giddings, approached the scene. A brief gun battle ensued, leaving Larry Giddings and one officer wounded. As Giddings attempted to flee from the scene, his car lost traction on the wet road, colliding with two patrol cars. After regaining control of the car, Giddings drove down a street but was captured when his car was run off the road by police.
Within 45 minutes, all of escapees had been recaptured except one man, who was apprehended two days later. Dunne was charged with possession of an automatic weapon, the M-2 carbine. Giddings was charged with the attempted murder of a police officer. Both men were charged with auto theft and with aiding and abetting the escape. Charges further alleged the operation was financed by bank expropriations and facilitated by illegal acquisition of weapons, explosives, and other equipment.
Larry Giddings was sentenced to two life sentences, plus an additional 80 years- all to run consecutively. Bill Dunne was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison, in addition to 5 to 15 years for state charges. Dunne received an additional 15 years and seven-and-a-half years of lockdown in Marion Federal Prison for his attempted self-emancipation from Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1983.
In January of 1993 Larry Giddings was paroled from the sentences given to him by the State of Washington, which landed him in federal custody to serve what amounted to a 75-year term. In March of 1993 he received a “Sentence Computation Summary” stating that he would become eligible for parole in another ten years, in 2003. In August 2004, he was finally released.
4strugglemag
Bill has served as a guest editor for 4strugglemag, and often contributes articles. The magazine, edited by political prisoner Jaan Laaman, prints news and articles by/about political prisoners and their friends. Check it out at 4strugglemag.org
Write Bill
Bill Dunne
#10916-086
USP Big Sandy
P.O. Box 2068
Inez, KY
USA 41224
