Intricacies Of The Rebellion In The 1970's
Introduction Overall the 1970s were a strange decade. People were shifting from a time in the 1960s, where the rights movement and helping one another was prominent; to a time in the 1970s, that trust was lost in the government and the “Me Decade” began, to where everyone was concerned with looking out for themselves. The 1970s were filled with huge events that are still prominent and talked about in today’s world, including: Watergate, the Vietnam War, and the Energy Crisis. I want to discuss one of less talked about events, the Attica Prison Rebellion. You can mention the rebellion to someone, and they will most likely say that they have heard of it but they do not know the intricacies of it. Through this paper, I hope to explore and
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The initial reports claimed that the inmates killed the hostages, but a thorough investigation concluded that all 10 hostages had been shot to death by the police. The guards wasted no time punishing the men for the deaths, they forced the inmates to crawl through the yard naked, while guards beat them and flicked cigarette butts at their backs. No one from the outside world intervened to help the inmates from this brutal treatment until the medical reports revealed that the hostages died by gunshot rather than by puncture wounds. The incident became a worldwide phenomenon and the disapproval ratings were through the roof, the pressure from the public forced Governor Rockefeller to have an independent commission to investigate. The commission issued its report in June of 1973. In the report majority of the blame for the riot was placed on the correctional officers. It concluded that the officials did not properly address growing prisoner frustrations and unsafe living conditions at the prisoner. It also found that Rockefeller should have visited the prisoners during the standoff and the he should have been present to oversee the amount of force being demonstrated during the raid. In 1974, the 1,281 inmates had lawyers file a $2.8 billion class-action lawsuit against the prison and state officials. 18 years later the case came to trial, and then in January 2000 a decision was finally reached. The inmates settled for $8 million, to be divided unevenly among them based on the severity of their suffering during the raid and following
The initial reports claimed that the inmates killed the hostages, but a thorough investigation concluded that all 10 hostages had been shot to death by the police. The guards wasted no time punishing the men for the deaths, they forced the inmates to crawl through the yard naked, while guards beat them and flicked cigarette butts at their backs. No one from the outside world intervened to help the inmates from this brutal treatment until the medical reports revealed that the hostages died by gunshot rather than by puncture wounds. The incident became a worldwide phenomenon and the disapproval ratings were through the roof, the pressure from the public forced Governor Rockefeller to have an independent commission to investigate. The commission issued its report in June of 1973. In the report majority of the blame for the riot was placed on the correctional officers. It concluded that the officials did not properly address growing prisoner frustrations and unsafe living conditions at the prisoner. It also found that Rockefeller should have visited the prisoners during the standoff and the he should have been present to oversee the amount of force being demonstrated during the raid. In 1974, the 1,281 inmates had lawyers file a $2.8 billion class-action lawsuit against the prison and state officials. 18 years later the case came to trial, and then in January 2000 a decision was finally reached. The inmates settled for $8 million, to be divided unevenly among them based on the severity of their suffering during the raid and following