SERGEANT WILLIAM CROSS

On June 15, 1979, Sergeant William Cross was murdered by inmates. The attack occurred in an extension of People’s Park, between the south entry to the dining hall and Big Red (see site plan). He was stabbed five times, one cutting his aorta. At the time, Sergeant Cross was the only officer in Washington State to be killed at the hands of inmates in living memory.

Cross’s death marked the beginning of the longest lockdown (nearly six months) in the history of Washington’s prisons.

Sergeant  William Cross

Sergeant William Cross