>AP National >12/02/2000 >Attica Riot Settlement Checks Issued > > AUBURN, N.Y. (AP) -- More than a quarter of a century after the deadly >Attica prison riots, $8 million in settlement checks are on their way to >hundreds of inmates injured in the uprising. > > Federal officials said Friday that checks for between $6,500 and >$125,000, depending on the severity of the inmate's injuries, had been >mailed to 502 Attica inmates or their surviving relatives. > > The 1971 Attica uprising was the country's deadliest prison riot. >Thirty-two inmates and 11 prison employees were killed, all >but four shot to death when state police retook the prison in western >New York after a four-day standoff. > >In their civil suit, surviving inmates claimed they were brutally beaten >by authorities in the hours and days after the retaking. > >New York state in January agreed to pay the inmates $8 million and their >lawyers $4 million in fees, although it denied any wrongdoing. The >original 1974 class-action lawsuit sought $100 million in damages. > > The settlement plan was devised by U.S. District Judge Michael Telesca >and terms were announced in August. > > ''The only thing I really hope and I pray for is that everybody learned >a lesson and tries to accept responsibility,'' former inmate Frank Smith >told the Democrat & Chronicle of Rochester. ''I've said it before and >I'll say it again: It's not about the money.''
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : 12/03/00 EST