Kethel Osborne

Kethel Osborne was born February 5, 1927 in Claren, Texas. His mother was Myrtle Hayes. He was convicted of assault, disobeying an officer and sodomy while in the military and arrived at Alcatraz on October 10, 1953.

The only personal information that I have found, so far, on Kethel, is that he was African-American. On October 27, 1955 he filed an appeal against E. B. Swope, warden of Alcatraz. "The application alleges he had exhausted his administrative remedies in the military practice and therefore he is entitled to have considered his contention that he had been tried by a general court martial, a member of which previous to the trial had "threatened" Osborne, "promising to find him quilty, irrespective of the evidence", and hence he has been denied due process and the military court was without jurisdiction to try him. Johnson v. Zerbst, 1937, 304 U.S. 458, 467-468, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461.

On February 6, 1964 Kethel filed an appellant suit against J.C. Taylor, warden of Fort Leavenworth, regarding the calculation of his good behavior and whether calculations should be based on army regulations or civil. The appeal was denied on March 2. The record gives a history of his time in prison. - "Appellant was in the United States Army and on active duty when he was court-martialed and sentenced to a dishonorable discharge and to be confined at hard labor for three years. While serving this sentence in military custody he committed another offense, was court-martialed and sentenced to confinement for six months at hard labor. Later he was convicted of a third offense, this time by a general court-martial, and sentenced to confinement at hard labor for eight years. The total sentences were eleven years and six months. After the general court-martial appellant was transferred from the military prison to the Federal Prison System and ultimately to the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth."

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