coercive_control · archival
Coercive control culminating in mass killing of 909 followers, including 304 children, at Jonestown
James Warren "Jim" Jones · Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ · cult_leader · US
Founder of the Peoples Temple. After Congressman Leo Ryan led a fact-finding visit to the Jonestown settlement in Guyana on 17–18 November 1978 in response to relatives' coerced-confinement complaints, Temple gunmen murdered the Congressman and four others on the airstrip. Hours later 909 Temple members died at Jonestown by forced or coerced ingestion of cyanide-laced punch — including 304 minors who could not consent. The House Foreign Affairs investigative report and FBI RYMUR files document escalating coercive-control practices: passport confiscation, sleep deprivation, "White Night" rehearsals, beatings, and surveillance of dissenters.
Evidence
- inquiry_report · 1979-05-15T06:00:00.000ZThe Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana TragedyReport of a Staff Investigative Group to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, 96th Congress, May 15, 1979
- organizational_documentFBI Records: The Vault — Jonestown (RYMUR 89-4286)U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jonestown File
- academic_publicationAlternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples TempleSan Diego State University Special Collections
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Filing reference:
POS-ARCH-JONESReport hash:
67a4770f67f4ee05348db76d461b330812ccecf9b4deb1c9cfde7fa89aa4f2a9Ledger hash:
a366273a65717150ffe244cb2518f5461099fe790e0bc36a61585d3cb568b480