Judith Alice Clark

Judith Alice Clark (born November 9, 1949), known as Judy Clark, is an American far-left radical activist, formerly a member of the Weather Underground and the May 19th Communist Organization (M19). Her mother was the researcher Ruth Clark. In 1967, she took up studies at the University of Chicago, where she joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and later co-founded the Weather Underground, participating in the Days of Rage. She went underground, was arrested and briefly incarcerated; afterwards she lived in New York City, co-founding M19. In the early 1980s, M19 linked with the Black Liberation Army (BLA) as The Family in order to carry out bank robberies to support revolutionary struggle. Clark was arrested driving a getaway car after the October 1981 Brink's robbery in Nanuet, New York, in which a security guard and two Nyack, New York police officers were shot and killed.

At trial, she was sentenced to three consecutive 25 to life terms for murder in the second degree, which she served at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Whilst incarcerated, she carried out HIV/AIDS activism, published in Social Justice, participated in a scheme to train service dogs for military veterans, assisted a chaplain and ran prenatal and infant support workshops for mothers. In 2016, Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo commuted her sentence to 35 years to life, making her eligible for parole. She was denied parole in 2017 and granted it in 2019.

Early life Judith Alice Clark was born in November 9, 1949, in New York City to a Jewish family. Her mother pursued a career working for a polling firm and pioneered the exit poll; her father co-founded the American Left magazine Dissent. After she and other students occupied a university building in 1969 as protest in support of a sociology professor who had been refused tenure, Clark was expelled from the university. Her father asked Saul Bellow to appeal to the university president, Edward H. Levi who maintained she had to leave. She co-founded the Weather Underground, which emerged from SDS.

Weather Underground Clark participated in the Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969. She was arrested alongside other Weather Underground activists including Kathy Boudin and went underground to evade the charges against her. The following year, the FBI apprehended her in a movie theater in Manhattan, New York City. After serving her sentence,efn-ua|The New York Times reported her sentence as 18 months in 1983

Two months after her release, there was a prison uprising at Attica. In its wake, Clark was one of the founders of The Midnight Special, a newspaper affiliated with the National Lawyers Guild. Clark was also a member of the Women's Bail Fund and worked in support of political prisoners. Clark decided she wanted to have a child as a lesbian and asked Alan Berkman to be the sperm donor. She gave birth to Harriet Josina Clark on November 13, 1980.

Brink's robbery

On October 20, 1981, members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) and May 19th Communist Organization (M19) assembled at a safe house in Mount Vernon, New York. Those present included Kuwasi Balagoon, Boudin, Samuel Brown, Marilyn Jean Buck, Clark, Cecil Ferguson, David Gilbert, Edward Josephs, Susan Rosenberg, Mtajori Sandiata and Mutulu Shakur.

The gang drove to the mall at Nanuet, New York in four vehicles; Clark was driving a Honda.

At trial, Clark was at first represented by Susan Tipograph.

Clark obtained bachelor's and master's degrees in prison. Alongside other female inmates, she carried out HIV/AIDS activism, protesting against the staff policy of isolating people with HIV and wearing gloves and masks when interacting with them. With Boudin she published "Community of Women Organize Themselves to Cope with the AIDS Crisis: A Case Study from Bedford Hill Correctional Facility" in the academic journal Social Justice. She also participated in a program to train service dogs for military veterans, assisted a chaplain and founded prenatal and infant support workshops for mothers. Clark said in 1994 that she had "enormous regret, sorrow and remorse" about her part in the robbery and in 2002, she published a public apology in The Journal News to all the victims of the Family's violence. Clark's daughter Harriet was raised by family members who brought her to visit the prison every weekend.

David Mamet's 2012 play The Anarchist featured two female characters inspired by Boudin, Clark and Cathy Wilkerson. Clark was also the inspiration for the role of Hannah, performed by Dame Harriet Walter in the 2016 Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Release

In 2016, governor of New York Andrew Cuomo recognised Clark's good behavior in prison and commuted her sentence, which meant that she would be eligible for parole the following year. At the seven hour long hearing, the three parole board members voted unanimously to deny her request for release, saying they had received thousands of letters from people who wanted her to serve a longer sentence for her crimes.

The parole board voted by two to one to release Clark from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in 2019. The decision was backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union and opposed by the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

In fiction In 2026, Harriet Clark published a novel titled "The Hill". Harriet Clark is the daughter of Judith Clark. "The Hill" is a work of fiction though it incorporates elements that parallel the lives of both mother and daughter. In the book, Suzanna Klein is an infant when her mother is involved in a bank robbery that leads to a homicide. The mother is sentenced to life in prison while Suzanna spends years growing up with her maternal grandmother and frequently visiting her mother in prison.

Selected works