Attica Prison riot

Attica Prison riot

Attica Correctional Facility in 2007. A memorial to staff who died in the uprising is visible between the flagpoles.
DateSeptember 9–13, 1971
Location
Attica, New York, U.S.
42°50′59″N 78°16′18″W / 42.84972°N 78.27167°W / 42.84972; -78.27167
Belligerents
Attica inmates
Commanders and leaders
  • Herbert X. Blyden[a]
  • Frank Lott[a]
  • Peter Butler[a]
  • Donald "Don" Noble[a]
  • Carl Jones-El[a]
  • Frank "Big Black" Smith[b]
  • Richard X. Clark[c]
  • Cleveland McKinley "Jomo" Davis
  • Elliott James "L.D." Barkley †
  • Governor Nelson Rockefeller
  • Commissioner Russell G. Oswald (Department of Corrections)
  • Deputy Commissioner Walter Dunbar (Department of Corrections)
  • Warden Vincent R. Mancusi (Attica Prison)
  • Assistant Deputy Warden Karl Pfeil (Attica Prison)
  • Superintendent William Kirwan (State Police)
  • Chief Inspector John C. Miller (State Police)
  • Major John Monahan (State Police)
  • Lieutenant Joseph P. Christian (State Police) (GSW)
Strength
1,281 inmates 74 correctional officers[d]
550 state troopers
42 correctional officers and civilian workers taken hostage
Casualties and losses
33 inmates killed (3 by other inmates)[e]
85 inmates wounded[e]

10 correctional officers killed (9 by correctional officers)[f]
5 correctional officers wounded during the assault[g]

1 state trooper wounded[h]

The Attica Prison riot took place at the state prison in Attica, New York; it started on September 9, 1971, and ended on September 13 with the highest number of fatalities in the history of United States prison uprisings. Of the 43 men who died (33 inmates and 10 correctional officers and employees), all but one guard and three inmates were killed by law enforcement gunfire when the state retook control of the prison on the final day of the uprising.[1][2][3] The Attica Uprising has been described as an historic event in the prisoners' rights movement.[4][5]

Prisoners revolted to seek better living conditions and political rights, claiming that they were treated as beasts.[6] On September 9, 1971, 1,281 of the approximately 2,200 men incarcerated in the Attica Correctional Facility rioted and took control of the prison, taking 42 staff hostage. During the following four days of negotiations, authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners' demands[7] but would not agree to demands for the removal of Attica's superintendent nor to complete amnesty from criminal prosecution for inmates for the prison takeover.[8] By order of Governor Nelson Rockefeller (after consultation with President Richard M. Nixon),[3] armed corrections officers and state and local police were sent in to regain control of the prison. By the time they stopped firing, at least 39 people were dead: 10 correctional officers and civilian employees and 29 inmates, with nearly all killed by law enforcement gunfire.[3] Law enforcement subjected many of the survivors to various forms of torture, including sexual violence.[9]

Rockefeller had refused to go to the prison or meet with prisoners. After the uprising was suppressed, he said that the prisoners "carried out the cold-blood killings they had threatened from the outset".[10] Medical examiners confirmed that all but the deaths of one officer and three inmates were caused by law enforcement gunfire.[1][11] The New York Times writer Fred Ferretti said the rebellion concluded in "mass deaths that four days of taut negotiations had sought to avert."[12]

As a result of the rebellion, the New York Corrections Department made changes in prisons to satisfy some of the prisoners' demands, reduce tension in the system, and prevent such incidents in the future. While there were improvements to prison conditions in the years immediately following the uprising, many of these improvements were reversed in the 1980s and 1990s. Attica remains one of the most infamous prison riots to have occurred in the United States.[2][4]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ a b Robbins, Tom (September 9, 2016). "Revisiting the Ghosts of Attica". The Marshall Project. Archived from the original on September 29, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Riot at Attica prison". A&E Television Networks. September 8, 2020. Archived from the original on December 5, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Attica". Showtime. 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Organizing the Prisons in the 1960s and 1970s: Part One, Building Movements". Process. September 20, 2016. Archived from the original on October 2, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
  5. ^ Fathi, David (September 14, 2018). "'Attica Is Every Prison; and Every Prison Is Attica'". ACLU.org. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Timeline of Events of the Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Subsequent Legal Actions". New York State Archives.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Burton, Orisanmi (2023). Tip of the spear: black radicalism, prison repression, and the long attica revolt. Oakland, California: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-39631-9.
  10. ^ the Milwaukee Star (1971).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :23 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Ferretti (1971).