Kathy Boudin (May 19, 1943 – May 1, 2022) was an American radical leftist who served 23 years in prison for felony murder based on her role in the 1981 Brink's robbery. Boudin was a founding member of the militant Weather Underground organization, which engaged in bombings of government buildings to express opposition to U.S. foreign policy and racism. The 1981 robbery resulted in the killing of two

Nyack, New York Nyack () is a Village (New York), village primarily located in the Town (New York), town of Orangetown, New York, Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. Incorporated in 1872, a small western section of the village lies in Clarkst ...

police officers and one security guard, and serious injury to another security guard; Boudin was arrested attempting to flee after the getaway vehicle she occupied was stopped by police. She was released on parole in 2003. After earning a doctorate, Boudin became an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Early life and family

Kathy Boudin was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on May 19, 1943, into a Jewish family with a storied left-wing history. Boudin was raised in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, New York City. Her paternal grandparents had emigrated from Russia and Austria. Her great-uncle was

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theorist Louis B. Boudin, while her brother was U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Boudin. Her mother was poet Jean (Roisman) Boudin, whose sister Esther was married to radical journalist I.F. Stone (making him Kathy's uncle). Her father, attorney Leonard Boudin, had represented controversial clients such as Judith Coplon, the Cuban government, and

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

. A National Lawyers Guild attorney, Leonard Boudin was the law partner of Victor Rabinowitz, himself counsel to numerous left-wing organizations. Kathy Boudin graduated from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

in 1965 as valedictorian. After college, she attended the Case Western Reserve University School of Law for less than a year. Boudin met her romantic partner, David Gilbert, in the 1970s and gave birth to their son Chesa Boudin in 1980. When her son was 14 months old, she was arrested and subsequently convicted and incarcerated for felony murder based on her role in the 1981 Brink's robbery. Her son was raised by former Weatherman leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

Weather Underground

Kathy Boudin FBI wanted poster issued 1 May 1970

In 1969, Boudin became a founding member of the Weatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society; in 1970, this faction became known as the

Weather Underground Organization The Weather Underground was a Far-left politics, far-left Marxist militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, or simply Wea ...

(WUO). In 1970, she and

Cathy Wilkerson Cathlyn Platt Wilkerson (born January 14, 1945), known as Cathy Wilkerson, is an American far-left radical who was a member of the 1970s radical group called the Weather Underground Organization (WUO). She came to the attention of the police wh ...

were the only survivors of the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion; a bomb that their comrades were constructing in anticipation of an attack on U.S. Army personnel that evening exploded prematurely, killing three militants and demolishing the building that they were using as a hideout and bomb factory. Boudin emerged from the wreckage naked and then disappeared. The WUO soon after renounced actions that sought to inflict human casualties. Boudin remained a fugitive for more than a decade, engaging in multiple bombings (none of which resulted in injuries) and other actions. In 1981, Boudin and several former members of the Weather Underground, along with current members of the

May 19th Communist Organization The May 19th Communist Organization (also variously referred to as the May 19 Coalition, May 19 Communist Coalition or M19CO) was a US-based far-left group formed by members of the Weather Underground Organization. The group was originally kno ...

and the Black Liberation Army, robbed a

Brink's The Brink's Company is an American Automated cash handling, cash handling company, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Its operations include cash-in-transit, ATM replenishment & maintenance, and cash management & payment services, such as va ...

armored car at the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, New York. Boudin was in the front seat of a U-Haul truck used as a switchcar getaway vehicle and also acted as a decoy. Responding police testified that when they spotted and pulled her over, Boudin feigned innocence and encouraged the two responding officers put their guns down, whereupon her accomplices leaped from the back of the truck with automatic weapons and shot officers Edward O'Grady and Waverly Brown, killing them both. In addition to killing Grady and Brown, the robbers had already seriously wounded guard Joseph Trombino; killed his partner, Peter Paige; and injured two other police officers.

Guilty plea and incarceration

Boudin was arrested while attempting to flee the scene on foot. As part of a negotiated plea agreement to avoid three potential murder convictions that could have resulted in Boudin serving three consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences, she pleaded guilty to felony murder and robbery in exchange for an agreed-upon sentence of 20 years to life in prison. While incarcerated, Boudin published articles in the '' Harvard Educational Review'' ("Participatory Literacy Education Behind Bars:

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

Opens the Door," Summer 1993, 63 (2)), in ''Breaking the Rules: Women in Prison and Feminist Therapy'' by Judy Harden and Marcia Hill ("Lessons from a Mother's Program in Prison: A Psychosocial Approach Supports Women and Their Children," published simultaneously in '' Women & Therapy'', 21),Pdf.
and in ''Breaking the Walls of Silence: AIDS and Women in a New York State Maximum-Security Prison''. She co-authored ''The Foster Care Handbook for Incarcerated Parents'' published by Bedford Hills in 1993. She also co-edited ''Parenting from inside/out: Voices of mothers in prison'', jointly published by correctional institutions and the Osborne Association. Boudin also co-founded AIDS Committee for Education (ACE) inside the prison in 1988 with other incarcerated women including Katrina Haslip and Judith Alice Clark to provide accurate education on living with HIV. During this time, she earned a master's in adult education from Vermont College (then the women's college of

Norwich University Norwich University is a private university in Northfield, Vermont, United States. The university was founded in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy". It is the oldest of six senior military college, senior militar ...

). Boudin also wrote and published poetry while incarcerated, publishing in books and journals including the PEN Center Prize Anthology ''Doing Time'', ''Concrete Garden'', and ''Aliens at the Border''. She won an International PEN prize for her poetry in 1999. Boudin and Roslyn D. Smith contributed the piece "Alive Behind the Labels: Women in Prison" to the 2003 anthology '' Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium'', edited by

Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...

. After almost 23 years' imprisonment, Boudin was granted parole on August 20, 2003, in her third parole hearing. She was released from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility on September 18, 2003.

Life after prison

After her release from prison, Boudin accepted a job in the

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

Clinic at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, meeting the work provisions of

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

that required active job prospects. Later, she founded the Coming Home Program at the Spencer Cox Center for Health at Mt. Sinai/St.Luke’s Hospital in Morningside Heights, which provides health care for people returning from incarceration. In May 2004 Boudin published an essay in the

Fellowship of Reconciliation The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR or FOR) is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). ...

's publication ''Fellowship'', expressing remorse for her participation in the Brink's robbery, which she described as "horrific." Subsequently, she received an Ed. D. from Columbia University Teachers College.

Columbia University

Boudin was named an adjunct professor at the

Columbia University School of Social Work The Columbia School of Social Work is the graduate school of social work of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the oldest social work programs in the US, with roots extending back to 1898. It began awarding a Master of Science d ...

, where she was the co-director and co-founder of the Center for Justice at Columbia University. Her appointment was controversial due to her guilty plea to a felony murder charge and her past participation in a group which carried out terrorist attacks in the United States. However, an opinion piece in the '' Columbia Daily Spectator'' noted that she took responsibility for her crimes and successfully rehabilitated herself. Columbia School of Social Work Associate Dean Marianne Yoshioka, who hired Boudin for the adjunct-professor post in 2008, was quoted as saying that Boudin has been "an excellent teacher who gets incredible evaluations from her students each year." In 2013, she was Sheinberg Scholar-in-Residence at New York University School of Law. The law school has maintained a video of her lecture.

In popular culture

Boudin was a model for the title role in

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

's play '' The Anarchist'' (2012). She also was a model for Willy Holtzman's Off-Broadway play ''Something You Did'' (2008). Boudin was an inspiration for the character Merry in Philip Roth's '' American Pastoral''.

Death

On May 1, 2022, Boudin died in New York City at the age of 78. According to her son Chesa Boudin, who was serving as District Attorney of San Francisco, Boudin had been battling cancer for seven years.