“The Long Tail of the Attica Prison Riot” by J. Oliver Conroy informs the reader about the truth of the Attica prison riot. In 1971 prisoners united together to form a rebellion in the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York. The revolution was based upon inmates demands of better living conditions and political rights. The riot is one of the most well known. Conroy starts by explaining exactly what took place. He gives descriptive detail on what led to the tragic death of forty three individuals. He then digs deeper and uses the perspectives of different individuals to explain what happened.
He begins by giving the perspective of a historian named Heather Ann Thompson. She was the author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. The book was a product of 13 years of research and insight of previously unseen documents. The book explains the Attica uprisings and retaking as well as the decade long fight by Attica survivors and whistleblowers to demand restitution and challenge the state’s attempt to whitewash criminal acts committed by law enforcement during the retaking. There was controversy surrounding the book because it included state troopers and correctional officers names who were suspected of killing prisoners. The book also presents the state’s role in an ugly saga of U.S. history. “Attica was often thought of as a riot, but the truth is that Attica was a hell hole. Prisoners were desperate to get the state to address the problems extreme prison overcrowding; horrific food and sanitation; lack of medical care; and tension between the mainly black and Puerto Rican prisoners and the almost entirely white guards (Thompson).” Oliver Conroy explains that the chaotic uprisings was unplanned and originally leaderless but rapidly organized around a sense of revolutionary purpose.
He then gives you an inside look of what happened by telling Mike Smith’s story. Mike Smith was a 23 year old rookie correctional office when the riot occurred. He was held hostage by the prisoners. One of the prisoners named Donald Noble protected him during the riot. They exchanged contact information for their families and agreed that if either survived they would let the others family know they expressed love. As helicopters rose above the prison walls inmates were getting shot from every direction. Smith was shot four times by what he believes was an Ar-15. Noble was the one that pulled him to the ground. A State Trooper walked over and almost shot him before realizing that he wasn’t an inmate. The trooper moved on to Noble but Smith told him that he saved his life.
The next perspective given is from Frank Smith who was one of the prisoners in charge of protecting the hostages they took. Smith was tortured by the correctional officers. They beat him with truncheons and forced him to play “shotgun roulette”. He decided to pursue civil claims against the state. In 2000 twenty nine years after the riot he was granted twelve million dollars by the state. This illustrates how brutal the guards were.
I understand that State troopers and correctional officers had to use force to end the riot, but I believe things could have been done differently. Instead of shooting at the inmates, they should of used tear gas. They could also use batons and tasers. Shooting at the prisoners should have been the last resort. Forty three people lost their lives which could have been avoided. The state didn’t handle it in the right way either. “Much of that 570-page review was sealed by court order and never made public (New York Times).” People have the right to know what exactly happened. It makes the state look like they are trying to hide something, by not releasing the original review. I believe that more victims and families should have been compensated for the way things were handled. The United States needs to improve prison conditions to prevent riots to occur. Having the largest prison population and poor conditions is a terrible combination. It puts inmates and correctional officers at physical and mental risk.
Attica’s legacy for American criminal justice was ugly. It’s a shame not much has changed since then. Last year prisoners across the US participated in one of the biggest prison strikes in history involving thousands of inmates in 24 prisons in 23 states. Many of the prisoners demands were identical of those in Attica. Mike Smith argued that “When you put a problem behind walls it is sort of as if society doesn’t have to look at it or acknowledge it until there is a riot. But as a society we have to make major changes to our criminal justice system and major changes in how we think.”
Works Cited
Conroy, J. Oliver. “The Long Tail of the Attica Prison Riot.” The Morning News. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
“Free the Attica Report.” New York Times, 24 Apr. 2013, p. A22(L). World History in Context, libraries.state.ma.us/login?gwurl=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A327391814/WHIC?u=mlin_s_bristcc&xid=0c713241. Accessed 18 Apr. 2017.