Attica

On September 9, 1971, violence erupts at Attica, a maximum-security prison in upstate New York. Like many such institutions, Attica, built in 1931, is overcrowded and conditions are poor. The racially and ethnically diverse (and primarily urban) inmate population is controlled by a predominantly white, rurally based, group of corrections officers.

The inmates take over much of the prison. They ask for the help of outside negotiators, including journalist Tom Wicker and lawyer William Kunstler. "[W]e are men! We are not beasts and do not intend to be beaten and driven as such," they write in their list of demands, asking for more nutritious food, religious freedom, and various policy changes. The prisoners also request amnesty in the death of a corrections officer killed during the takeover. But all negotiations fail. Governor Nelson Rockefeller orders the state police to retake the institution on September 13. During the 15-minute siege, 3,000 rounds of ammunition are fired, killing 39 people instantly and wounding more than 80. Ten hostages‹all killed by police bullets‹are among the fatalities. Afterward, officials withhold medical care, force inmates to strip, and beat them. The television news gives the shocked public a view of these events.

Attica is said to cost Rockefeller the presidency. It certainly advances the prisoners' rights movement. The inmates bring a class action civil suit against officials. In 1989, $1.3 million will be awarded to seven inmates and their families. By the late 1990s, the prisoners will have won legal vindication in other cases as well.

Click here for an excerpt from The Last Graduation, dir. by Barbara Zahm, courtesey of Deep Dish TV.