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Correctional Officer

Jerry Sanders

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — Sacramento, CA

Felonious

End of Watch November 27, 1973

Age 35

Tour of Duty 6 yrs

The Vigil Panel 113 ›

Gender Male

Incident Media Service The Sacrifice Memorials 1 Department 41

Incident

Correctional Officer Jerry Sanders was stabbed and killed while working at the Deuel Vocational Institution. Two inmates, both members of the radical Black Panthers, were charged with his murder. Their first trial ended with a hung jury. In the second trial, both were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The California Supreme Court overturned their convictions and ordered a third trial, which ended with another hung jury. In 1981, their fourth trial resulted in an acquittal for both. One inmate, serving a sentence for armed robbery, was released. The other inmate, serving a life sentence for a previous murder conviction, remained in prison. Officer Sanders had served with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for six years. Survivors include a son, daughter, father, brother, and three uncles. The Black Panther Party was a black nationalist and Marxist revolutionary political and militant organization active in the United States between 1966 and 1982. Members and former members of the group were responsible for the murders of over 20 law enforcement officers and the wounding of dozens more across the nation. Please click here to visit all the law enforcement officers who have died as a result of the Black Panther Party's violent activism.

Survivors

Survivors include a son, daughter, father, brother, and three uncles.

In Our Keeping

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Added to badge.nw: August 2, 2026
Last updated: August 2, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Correctional Officer Sanders gave the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 6 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of California. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Correctional Officer Sanders.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Type Corrections

Location Sacramento, CA

Platform Identity cdcrcorr.sacramento.ca.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 27, 1973

Tour of Duty 6 yrs

Age 35

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Felonious

Weapon Edged weapon

The Sacrifice · Felonious

Jerry is one of 15,743 officers killed feloniously in the United States, 57.1% of the 27,551 remembered there.

33,917 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

Compare against

Time

In 1973, 171 officers in the United States were killed feloniously, the 17th heaviest of 213 years on record. The heaviest was 1921, with 248.

Every year on record · United States

Who

Jerry was 35. Of the 14,220 killed feloniously in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 31 and 47; the middle age was 38. Jerry had served 6 years; the middle length of service was 6 years.

Age at death

Where he stood among them

Age by years of service

III

When

November holds 8.1% of these deaths in the United States; December holds the most, 9.4%. Tuesdays: 13.4%.

By month

By day of the week

How

Felonious deaths account for 57.1% of all 27,551 deaths in the United States, the most common cause. The weapon recorded was edged weapon, in 2.2% of these deaths.

Every cause

Weapons recorded