Attica:
The Massacre the Governor Ordered

The Attica uprising grew from months of organizing in response to conditions documented by the prisoners themselves: 12-14 hours in cells, one shower per week, one roll of toilet paper per month, censored mail, beatings by guards, no medical care. The catalyst was the death of George Jackson — a Black Panther and author of Soledad Brother — shot by guards at San Quentin on August 21. On September 9, a fight between guards and prisoners escalated into an uprising. Prisoners seized D-yard, taking 42 guards hostage. They organized themselves democratically, appointed spokespeople, and presented a list of demands including amnesty for the uprising.

The four-day negotiation period was the most significant political conversation between incarcerated people and state authority in American history. A team of observers including journalist Tom Wicker, attorney William Kunstler, and Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale entered the yard. The prisoners were coherent, organized, and their demands were not unreasonable. New York Commissioner of Corrections Russell Oswald agreed to 28 of 33 demands. The sticking point was criminal amnesty for the uprising and the removal of Attica's superintendent. Rockefeller refused both — and refused to come to Attica to negotiate personally.

At 9:46 a.m. on September 13, state police helicopters dropped tear gas into D-yard and state troopers and corrections officers advanced firing shotguns, rifles, and handguns. The assault lasted approximately six minutes. Thirty-three prisoners and 10 hostages were killed — all by state gunfire. Within hours, state officials told the press that prisoners had killed the hostages by slitting their throats. Governor Rockefeller described "the deaths of hostages" as a result of "the barbarism of the uprising." The New York State Police Commissioner repeated the throat-slitting claim. It was broadcast worldwide.

Autopsies revealed the truth: every hostage had been killed by state police gunfire. Not one had been killed by a prisoner. The lie had been told deliberately, in real time, to justify the massacre. The official investigation suppressed evidence for years. Prosecutors indicted 62 prisoners for their roles in the uprising. Not one state trooper or corrections officer was ever charged for the killings. In 2000, the state settled a civil lawsuit with survivors and families of those killed for $8 million — 29 years after the massacre.