Michael “Mike” Prokes was born on May 31, 1947, in Cleveland, Ohio before moving to Modesto, California where he was raised by Mary Prokes along with his four siblings. He was known to be somewhat quiet and conservative, as well as highly religious. Prior to his involvement with People’s Temple, Mike had been educated at Modesto Junior College and at California State University – Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Science in Communications in 1969. After his graduation, he began to work as a television newsman for KXTV Channel 10 in the Stanislaus area of California’s Central Valley region. He quickly was promoted to the position of Bureau Chief for the station and continued to work there until his swift departure in October 1972 – shortly after an interview with Reverend Jim Jones that was to serve as the basis of a potential expose piece.
This interview led Prokes to quit his job with KXTV Channel 10 to instead serve as the head public relations authority in Peoples Temple. Prokes provided a statement that indicated that he had initially begun his career with Peoples Temple while serving as an informant for an “unknown government agency,” but that he had cut off this relationship when he came to truly believe in the cause and in Jim Jones. While most of Prokes’ duties entailed general correspondence, establishing and maintaining contacts, and writing and releasing statements, he also served in different facets, especially in Jonestown. Throughout his time in Jonestown following his August 1977 arrival, Prokes worked in the cassava gang, as a school teacher, and in the machinery shop, in addition to his duties putting on a radio show about the settlement and serving as a liaison between Peoples Temple and the Guyanese government.
Mike survived the events of November 18th with Mike and Tim Carter due to the strict instructions received by Maria Katsaris to remove money from the settlement to be brought to the Soviet embassy in Georgetown. The amount of money that Prokes and the Carter brothers were set to bring to the embassy ranged greatly throughout reports, but when picked up by Guyanese police forces the men were said to have American and Guyanese currency, firearms, and documents on their person, following their arrest money was recovered as they had been hiding money along their travel route due to how heavy the suitcases were. He was then detained in Guyana but eventually would illegally leave the country around Christmastime to fulfill a promise to his family. Prokes initially contacted the FBI following his return offering to provide an interview, but later backed out. He subsequently was subpoenaed for the federal grand jury trial that was held to determine if there was a conspiracy to kill Congressman Leo Ryan.
After returning home, Prokes remained a staunch supporter of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple and defended the act of “revolutionary suicide” that the group had committed. Prior to holding his March 13, 1979 press conference, Prokes had been sending a 30-page statement to reporters and other important Peoples Temple figures such as Charles Garry. Prokes held a press conference with 9 news outlets in a Modesto, California hotel room where he read a 5-page statement defending the Temple and calling for the release of the final tape – commonly referred to as the “death tape” – from November 18th. He speculated that the reason it had not yet been released was that “..it would reveal too clearly something that the government [did] not want to admit and [could not] admit – that Jonestown represents a symbol of the massive institutional failure of this country to meet the needs of its own citizens.”
After reading the statement, Prokes went to the bathroom where he promptly shot himself. He left a note behind that can be read here. He was taken to the hospital where he passed from his injuries a few hours later.
Jonestown: The Survivors’ Story by Nora Gallagher
Ex-Aide to Jim Jones Kills Himself at News Briefing
Raven by Tim Reiterman