From the Women’s suffrage movement, to the food riots during The Great Depression, to
the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, American citizens have rarely been shy about
voicing their disapproval of the United States Government.
In all of these cases, those involved were fighting for better rights and treatment in
their everyday lives.
But what if you had no rights to fight for?
Today on The Infographics Show, we’re looking at how the Attica Prison riot really went
down and how the impact continues to ripple through the American prison system.
The 1971 Attica Prison riot started as a rebellion against inhumane prison conditions.
An organized group of prisoners detained in this New York State prison sent a manifesto
to the commissioner of prisons that read “the guards no longer consider or respect us as
human beings.”
In the end, the riot would last a total of 5 days and take 39 lives.
The whole truth behind this story has only recently been uncovered, as the prisoners
involved were finally allowed to tell their side of the story, following a four decade
long coverup by the government.
First let’s look at what incited the prisoners to come together in the first place.
Tensions were growing nationwide within prisons due to overcrowding, extremely limited food,
access to one shower or less per week, and the absence of medical care, and life in Attica
was no exception.
During the late 1960s and early 70s there was a rise in serious incidents across American
prisons, including the 1970 riots in Manhattan House of Detention and the Auburn Correctional
Facility, and these events sparked a fear of more potential revolts across the country.
Just before the riots began in Attica, there were over 2,250 inmates housed there, even
though the prison had been designed for only 1600, with each guard being responsible for
between 60-120 inmates each, many of whom were violent offenders.
Back to that manifesto sent by the prisoners we mentioned earlier, in the summer of 1971
the Commissioner of Prisons received a letter with a list of demands from a group of prisoners
who called themselves the “Attica Liberation Faction.”
The letter described the outright mistreatment of the black and hispanic majority within
the prison and contained a list of 28 reforms including “improvements in the working and
living conditions and a change in medical procedure”.
In an attempt to stop any violence or rioting before it could start, the state’s reaction
was to punish anyone found in possession of this document with 60 days of solitary confinement.
The state’s attempt to pacify the inmate population proved to be a failure when on
August 22, a Californian inmate was killed by prison guards, and the usual divisions
that existed between the prisoners and various factions began to dissolve and a common solidarity
formed.
The next day, many prisoners wore black armbands and ate breakfast in total silence to mourn
the loss of the slain California inmate.
The prison took immediate note of this change in the prisoners’ behavior.
The guards began more seriously arming themselves and leaving behind personal items such as
their wallets just in case anything “jumped off” while they were at work.
Their fears were well placed as it didn’t take long for something to “jump off.”
On the morning of September 9th, one inmate was able to flip the switch that controlled
a cell door, releasing his friend from lockdown.
A guard noticed the released prisoner and responded by locking down a group of prisoners
being escorted in a passageway known as Tunnel A, trapping both prisoner and prison guard
alike.
The group of prisoners, perhaps afraid that they would meet the same fate that the California
prisoner had met the previous day, tackled the guard and began beating him.
The sounds of terror echoed through the prison, which motivated other groups of prisoners
to do the same, grabbing weapons, attacking guards, and opening cells.
While some prisoners hid in fear, others took this opportunity to access the prison’s
control center known as “Time’s Square,” shutting off all the lights and locating the
prison’s keys.
The chaos continued to grow with nearly 1,300 inmates now involved.
Armed with bats, wooden planks, glass from broken windows, police batons, and anything
else they could find, the prisoners took control of the prison.
After giving up his nightstick and keys, one inmate slogged a guard named William Quinn
with a large piece of wood, an injury that would lead to his death two days later.
After the initial beating, 42 guards and civilian workers were forced out into the exercise
field known as D Yard.
Some prisoners later stated that the guards who had been known for treating the inmates
with respect were shown the same, while the guards with a reputation for cruelty were
not so lucky.
The prisoners were able to quickly organize themselves, even creating their own security
force and protocols, as well as a negotiation committee to handle disputes between prisoners
and the prison’s administration.
Frank "Big Black" Smith was appointed as head of security, and he is also responsible for
keeping the hostages and the observers safe while tensions were high.
The next two days were filled with intense negotiations between the prisoners and officials
outside the walls.
Better sanitation, higher quality food, more visitation rights, and an end to beatings
by the guards were the first demands brought to the table by the prisoners in exchange
for letting the hostages free.
Negotiating on the other side was Commissioner of Prisons Russell Oswald along with famed
attorney William Kunstler as well as New York Times reporter Tom Wicker to both assist with
negotiations as well as broadcast the event to the public.
Despite the high profile of the incident, the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller,
did not make an appearance.
Some early miscommunication from Oswald led to distrust from the prisoners and they soon
after refused direct talks with him.While negotiations were in full swing, the inmate
leaders like Frank Smith were giving empowering speeches to boost morale and motivate the
prisoners.
The prisoners dug moats, turned back on the electric fences, doused the surrounding areas
with gasoline, prepared weapons, further secured “Times Square”, and lit up the dark hallways
in preparation for when the state finally moved in.
When it seemed that negotiations were hitting a dead end, the prisoners knew they would
be forced to make a bold move.
Oswald gave the prisoners a final ultimatum which they rejected, and responded by taking
eight hostages out to the catwalk of the prison where they threatened them with knives.
Following this bold rejection, on September 13th, the fifth day of rioting, with the state
now being made aware of the death of prison guard Quinn, Governor Rockafeller, with President
Nixon’s support, ordered the storming and recapture of the prison.
15 minutes after the order, a National Guard Helicopter flew over the prison firing tear
gas canisters meant to disorient the rioters.
Shortly after, roughly 550 uniformed New York State police officers prepared to retake the
prison.
They were joined by hundreds of sheriffs, deputies and police from neighboring counties
who had come to “support” the working officers though many have claimed they were
there mostly to take revenge.
Many of the officers then removed their identification before entering the prison which allows them
to act with impunity and be exempt from any punishment, as they would be able remain unidentified
without their badges.
Many of these officers brought weapons of their own from home, with one group of officers
using “.270 caliber rifles, which utilized unjacketed bullets, a kind of ammunition that
causes “such enormous damage to human flesh that it was banned by the Geneva Convention.”
Decades later, when the prisoners were able to share their side of the story, journalist
Heather Ann Thompson wrote about the horror stories relayed by the surviving prisoners
in a Pulitzer Prize winning account that described the police storming the prison, shooting ferociously
and with no real targets, or plan at all.
This was followed by an hour of beatings and torture, with police knocking prisoners heads
together, hitting people with the butt of their rifles and then shooting them, putting
the barrel of the gun in the mouths of prisoners just for laughs, or forcing them to strip
naked.
In one specific instance, a prisoner was shot in the abdomen, told to walk, and when he
couldn’t, he was killed.
After the bloodbath came to an end, the state once again had control of the prison.
A grand total of 128 men had been shot; with 29 prisoners and 9 hostages lying dead.
This was not the end of the abuse for the prisoners, as bizzare work methods, like forcing
them to clean the prison naked, and physical harm lasted for weeks following the raid.
According to one source, Attica Prison’s doctor, Dr. Paul Sternberg, exacted his own
form of revenge, often using racial slurs and refusing to treat many of the prisoner’s
injuries, or making them wait weeks for treatment.
But perhaps the most bizarre part of the entire ordeal was the cover up that would follow.
The state took great pains in trying to obfuscate what actually happened in the retaking of
Attica’s D Yard on September 13th.
Following the hour-long battle to take the prison, Walter Dunbar, the executive deputy
commissioner of New York’s Department of Correctional Services had reported to the
public that the guards who had been kept as hostages were killed by the prisoners, when
in fact they had been killed by law enforcement, caught in the crossfire during the assault.
He further claimed to have witnessed an inmate performing a castration on a guard before
killing him, to further vilify the inmates and strengthen his cover up.
An official Attica investigation was called by Governor Rockefeller and undertaken by
the New York State Police and its Bureau of Criminal Investigation and strongly focused
on the wrong-doings of the inmates, completely disregarding the role played by law enforcement
either prior to or during the riot.
The state continues to push this side of the story, even going so far as to pressure medical
examiner, John Edland to falsify death records, an order he refused.
He would be regarded as a hero by many when he revealed publicly that many of the victims
had died of gunshot wounds inflicted by police, not by the prisoners.
Although this news surfaced, not a single officer or civilian involved was indicted
or convicted of any crimes.
Governor Rockefeller and President Nixon were able to sell the case to the public that the
monstrous battle was warranted, and eventually 62 inmates would be indicted for more than
1,200 criminal acts, the blame for the riot and its aftermath placed squarely at their
feet.
However in 1974, after more reports of the incident came to light, the new governor of
New York Hugh Carey sought to bring an end to the whole affair by ending any and all
criminal charges related to the riot.
He was successful in pardoning every Attica prisoner for cases related to the riots, and
offered restitution to victims of crimes committed by authorities before, during and after the
riot.
In the year 2000, the Dean of NYU’s Law School held meetings to discuss and investigate
the Attica Revolt.
The final report described the details of the gruesome conditions and race-based terror
prisoners were subjected to in the years prior to the revolt, and was strongly critical of
how law enforcement handled the crisis.
Also in 2000, the State of New York finally settled a civil suit brought by inmates for
a total of $12 million dollars in damages for the use of excessive force, though by
then many of the potential claimants were dead with many more uninterested or unable
to be located.
Frank "Big Black" Smith , the motivational leader of the prisoners who received some
of the worst treatment after the riot, who was subjected to being burned, assaulted,
humiliated and threatened, spent the rest of his days living in New York City and working
as a paralegal, dedicating himself to prisoner’s right’s cases until his death in 2004.
The Attica Prison Riot serves as a reminder of what can happen when a failed prison system
is combined with a systemic abuse of human rights.
While some sort of justice has been served, the riot will forever be another reminder
of why you shouldn't always believe what the authorities tell you, but rather exercise
your right to research and demand what is right.
Do you believe the prisoners deserved their initial punishment?
Or that the Police officers deserved to be charged for their actions?
We would love to know what you think.
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video What Happens In The H Unit At Federal Supermax
Prison?!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!