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On 09 September 1971, an event took place that became one of the most famous pushes for penitentiary reform in the United States and beyond.
The Attica Prison Riot took place at the state prison in Attica, New York. It began on 9 September 1971 and ended on 13 September with the highest number of casualties in the history of US prison riots. Of the 43 dead (33 inmates and 10 prison officers), all but one guard and three inmates were killed by law enforcement fire when the state regained control of the prison on the last day of the uprising.
The Attica riot has been described as a historic event in the prisoners’ rights movement. The prisoners rose to demand better living conditions and political rights, claiming that they were being treated like animals.
On 9 September 1971, 1281 of the approximately 2200 male inmates at Attica Penitentiary rioted and took control of the prison, taking 42 police officers hostage. During the following four days of negotiations, the authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners’ demands but did not meet the demands for the removal of the warden of Attica prison and a full amnesty from prosecution for the prison takeover.
On the orders of Governor Nelson Rockefeller (after consultation with President Richard Nixon), armed prison officers, as well as state and local police, were sent to regain control of the prison.
By the time they ceased fire, at least 39 people had died: 10 prison staff and civilian employees and 29 inmates, almost all of whom were killed by law enforcement fire.
Law enforcement officers subjected many of the survivors to various forms of torture, including sexual violence.
Nelson Rockefeller refused to visit the prison or meet with the prisoners. After the uprising was suppressed, he stated that the prisoners ‘carried out the cold-blooded murders they had threatened from the beginning’.
As a result of the uprising, the New York City Department of Corrections amended legislation to address some of the prisoners’ demands, reduce tensions in the system, and prevent similar incidents in the future:
- Providing basic needs, such as more visits to the shower, soap, medical care and family visits.
- Establishing a grievance procedure whereby prisoners can report staff actions that violate published rules.
- Establishment of liaison committees where prisoners elect representatives to represent their interests in meetings with prison authorities.
- Allocating funding for Prisoners Legal Services, a nationwide network of lawyers who provide assistance to prisoners.
- Ensuring access to higher education
- Providing greater religious freedom for prisoners.
Although prison conditions improved immediately after the uprising, many of these improvements were reversed in the 1980s and 1990s. Attica remains one of the most notorious prison riots to occur in the United States.
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