Iron Thunderhorses Life Free Essay Example, 1250 words

Once in California Iron studied law and became a street lawyer and helped everyone who needed justice without discriminating anyone. Iron became involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM) and came under the observation of COINTELPRO, a branch of FBI which aimed at eliminating the anti war and other social activities in the 60s (Warrior, n.d. ). In 1976 there was an attempt made on his life due to which he decided to move to the Texas-Oklahoma border where he started a business with his Vietnam friends. His jail life began in 1977 when he was arrested in Texas and held incommunicado for approximately ten months. He was held responsible for the crimes committed by the local men who resembled him in appearance. Iron fought the wrong charges against him in propria personna and stood victorious in most cases. In 1978 he was severely beaten up on the orders of Assistant Warden. His head was shaved and his TRO, which prohibited the cutting of hair due to religious reasons, was also torn into pieces (Thunderhorse, 2006). In the 1980s he took his kidnapping charge to the Supreme Court and overturned it. We will write a custom essay sample on Iron Thunderhorse's Life or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now It was only in 1997 he came to know that his kidnapping sentence of 5 years has been surprisingly changed to 99 years. At that time the Texas government had passed a law, which did not allow the inmates access to their files. Due to this law Iron was unable to prove the fact that 99 years was a mistake. In 1981 his testimony to make Texas jails less cruel resulted in six assassination attempts on him (ACQTC, 2006). Iron’s physical condition was perfect when he first went to the jail. However, the torture and the non-provision of the medical aid at the jail and fighting in self-defense have made him virtually blind. Iron has complained of having corneal dystrophy, cataracts and open angle glaucoma. Authorities have refused to allow him a proper wash and medical check up after the pepper spray attack. The authorities were well aware of the fact that Iron was suffering from allergic rhinitis and sebhorric dermatitis, which prohibited the use of pepper spray. They also confiscated his medical pass that prohibited him to be hand cuffed behind his back due to his crippled arm (Warrior, n.d. ). Along with the problems mentioned above Iron suffers from high blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia, sleep apnea, and recurrent shingles. At the same time he has only one lung working. These problems were further worsened with the attempts on his life. Still he was not allowed to visit any doctor by the jail authorities.