Frank DeLeon, a 44-year-old correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison, was killed on August 21, 1971, during a violent uprising that became one of the deadliest days in the prison’s history. The disturbance began when an inmate was given a 9 mm pistol and two magazines by a civil rights lawyer; the inmate hid the weapon in an afro wig, produced it when a guard grew suspicious, and then loaded it. That confrontation led to the release of 26 inmates who attacked guards, slashing the throats of six and shooting three, including DeLeon. The bodies of the guards were later stacked in the cell of the inmate who initiated the disturbance, and that inmate was shot and killed by responding officers.

In the prosecutions that followed, six prisoners were charged in the officers’ deaths. After a 16-month trial, one inmate was convicted of murder and later paroled in 1988; three were acquitted and two were found guilty of assault. The convicted inmate reportedly remained in prison and was involved in another killing of a correctional officer, and was ultimately stabbed to death during a 2015 riot at Folsom Penitentiary.

The killings exposed serious security failures and underscored the dangers correctional officers face. Does anyone have further information about Officer DeLeon’s life or service that could add to the record?