On this day, Sept. 9, in 1971, the four-day Attica Prison riot began, ending in 39 dead and one of the bloodiest encounters between Americans since the Civil War.
Responding to the death of a Black Panther at the hands of prison guards in California, more than 1,000 inmates seized control of the New York facility, taking 33 corrections officers hostage.
Four days of negotiations made little progress. At 9:46 a.m. Sept. 9, state police dropped tear gas into the yard and began shooting nonstop into the smoke for two minutes, killing hostages and inmates. By the time the facility was retaken, nine hostages and 28 inmates had been killed.
The riots had a racial component. Of 2,225 inmates in the prison, 63 percent were black or Hispanic. All of the 383 correctional officers were white.
Sixty-two inmates were charged with 1,289 separate counts. One state trooper was indicted for reckless endangerment.
After 27 years in the courts, the state of New York in 2000 agreed to pay $12 million to settle a lawsuit by the prisoners. In 2004, the state recognized the families of the slain prison employees with a $12 million settlement.
— Scott McCabe
