2014 Event Ukraine exchanges 222 rebel prisoners for 150 Ukrainian soldiers held by separatist forces; for security reasons, the nation also blockades Crimea, the region annexed by Russia, by stopping bus and train service to and from the area 2014 Event U.S. officials return four Afghan prisoners to Afghanistan after more than ten years of detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the Obama administration is working to clear and release remaining prisoners in order to close the facility 2014 Event President Barack Obama exchanges 5 Guantanamo Bay prisoners for the lone U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl; some lawmakers protest that the secret exchange was illegal because Congress was not notified in advance 2013 Event In preparation for plans to step down in 2015, the President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir gives an order to release all political prisoners 2012 Event Prior to a visit from U.S. President Barack Obama, Myanmar's government pardons 452 prisoners under an amnesty as a goodwill gesture 2012 Event Serbia says it is protecting a witness of organ harvesting on Serbian prisoners of the war in Kosovo 2012 Event China announces its plan to phase-out the practice of taking and selling organs from executed prisoners 2011 Event Cuba announces plans to release 2,900 prisoners, including political prisoners 2011 Event Libya's National Transitional Council raises concerns about the mass killing of political prisoners by Muammar Gaddafi's government 2011 Event All remaining political prisoners in Tunisia are freed 2010 Event The United Kingdom gives prisoners serving less than four years the right to vote 2009 Event Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has 4,000 prisoners death sentences commuted to life imprisonment 1996 Event Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners 1995 Event Israel begins W Bank pullback, frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners 1989 Event South Africa President FW de Klerk frees Sisulu and 4 other political prisoners 1985 Event 1150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners exchanged for 3 Israelis 1983 Event PLO exchanges 6 Israeli prisoners for 4,500 Palestinians and Lebanese 1982 Event Britain requests Argentina arrange for return of prisoners 1982 Event Terror group "The Illuminated Path" frees 260 prisoners in Peru 1975 Event Fire in prison hospital kills 10 prisoners and 1 guard (Sanford Fla) 1973 Event Egypt and Israel exchange prisoners of war 1971 Event 11 guards and 31 prisoners die in take over at Attica State Prison 1962 Event Cuba starts returning U.S. prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion 1962 Event Yugoslavia grants 1,000 prisoners amnesty 1961 Event Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food and medical supplies 1961 Event Castro offers to exchange Bay of Pigs prisoners for 500 bulldozers 1956 Event East Germany frees almost 19,000 prisoners 1951 Event Christopher Fry's "Sleep of Prisoners," premieres in Oxford 1946 Event Prisoners revolt at Alcatraz, 5 die 1945 Event Sicherheitsdienst murders 10 political prisoners in Zutphen 1944 Event Surprise attack on House of Keeping Axe, 29 prisoners freed 1944 Event Rotterdam Passage fight frees 46 prisoners 1944 Event Attempt to liberate prisoners in Amsterdam fails, John Post arrested 1944 Event Nazi troops executed 96 prisoners by firing squad 1942 Event 1st transport of British/Dutch prisoners to South Burma 1941 Event 1st use of Zyclon-B gas in Auschwitz (on Russian prisoners of war) 1934 Event 1st federal prisoners arrive at Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay 1923 Birthday Edna Jo Hunter, expert on military families and prisoners of war 1919 Birthday Richard Mason, born near Manchester, England, author, learned Japanese in World War II, interrogated prisoners of war, wrote 'The Wind Cannot Read', 'The Fever Tree', 'The World of Suzie Wong' 1919 Birthday Meriol Trevor, novelist/biographer, Civil Prisoners 1900 Event Last 2000 British prisoners in Nooitgedagt South Africa freed 1879 Event Cheyenne prisoners led by Dull Knife revolt at Fort Robinson 1864 Event Troop train loaded with Confederate prisoners collided with a coal train killing 65 and injuring 109 of 955 aboard 1840 Event 9 Jewish prisoners are released from Damascus jails 1815 Event English militia shoots prisoners, 100's killed 1815 Event U.S. declares war on Algiers for taking U.S. prisoners and demanding tribute 1809 Event Dartmoor Prison opens to house French prisoners of war 1787 Event De Sade shouts from Bastille that prisoners are being slaughtered 1191 Event Crusader King Richard I kills 3,000 muslim prisoners in Akko
