Attica Correctional Facility

The 1971 Riot

At 8:50 A.M. on Thursday, September 9, 1971, a group of Attica prisoners broke through a security gate and gained control of part of the prison. In the process, they assaulted and fatally injured a correctional officer. They took 43 officers and prison staff hostage and established residence in a large, enclosed yard. At the time of the riot, the prison held 2,243 mostly black and Latino inmates, 1,281 of whom were in the yard during the four-day uprising.

Throughout the four-day occupation of the yard, inmates sought to have their grievances heard by prison administrators and state officials. They drew up a list of politicians, journalists, and religious leaders thought to be sympathetic to their concerns, and they asked that persons on the list be brought to Attica to act as observers. Corrections Commissioner Russell G. Oswald repeatedly entered the prisoner-held yard to hear their demands and inform them of his willingness to grant as many as possible. Representatives of the 33-member observers group also entered the yard to discuss the inmates' concerns.

After several days of negotiations with state officials, the concerns of the prisoners culminated in “15 Practical Proposals” that included such issues as

Even as negotiations were proceeding, state law enforcement officials prepared for a possible forcible retaking of the facility. The observers committee, sensing a breakdown in the negotiations, and becoming concerned about the large number of heavily armed state police officers massing outside the prison, publicly appealed to Governor Nelson Rockefeller to come to Attica. Several influential observers who knew the governor on a professional basis spoke to him by telephone at his Hudson Valley estate, beseeching him to come to the prison to forestall a potentially large loss of life. The governor refused.

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