BookmanTuesday, July 11, 2000
Thanks for posting this. Who among us was not moved at this event?
Another instance where I felt blind rage from the blatant disregard for
life and the way the powers that me created the whole situation. Not
that the inmates were innocent nice guys ... but many were there for
political crimes or dope, mostly grass as I recall. And some certainly
for more serious crimes. But the system was set up to take people of
the right color off the streets. Many became politically conscious in
prison and I met some of their students. Many were demanding political
change.
But what do I know? Would like to hear from people on the list who have
personal experience, I find that much more valuable than the political
cant, that I sometimes perpetuate myself.
Attica was black mark on the American legal system, politics,
Rockefeller, the guards as individuals, the soldiers ... I cried when I
heard about it and felt helpless rage at confronting the system in
their arena of ultimate force. It could still brutalize us all. The
prisoners should get the 100 million and those responsible in any way
should serve prison time.
best, Don Monkerud
>>Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2000 23:40:16 -0500 (CDT)
>>From: Michael Novick <
>>
>>500-plus inmates from Attica uprising seek compensation
>>
>>ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) More than 500 inmates caught in the deadly 1971
Attica
>>uprising have come forward to seek a share of the $8 million in
>>compensation offered by New York state.
>>
>>The legal deadline ran out Friday for claims by inmates who maintain
they
>>were tortured, beaten and denied medical treatment in the aftermath
of the
>>revolt and the bloody efforts by authorities to put it down.
>>
>>State police launched an all-out assault on the maximum-security
Attica
>>Correctional Facility near Buffalo on Sept. 13, 1971, the fifth day
of the
>>uprising. In all, 32 inmates and 11 guards died, most of them killed
during
>>the raid, and hundreds more were wounded.
>>
>>The U.S. District Court here said 518 claims had been filed by
Friday
>>afternoon but more mailed with Friday postmarks were expected to
filter in.
>>''My estimate is, when the dust settles, it will be over 550,'' said
>>Elizabeth Fink, the chief lawyer for the former inmates.
>>
>>Of the 1,281 inmates who were in prison yard ''D'' when police
stormed the
>>prison, hundreds have since died. By year's end, the judge will
divide the
>>money between the claimants most of them former inmates in their 50s
or
>>older.
>>
>>Dozens of former inmates testified in the federal court about their
>>harrowing experiences in the hours after the prison was recaptured.
Inmates
>>were forced to run naked through a gantlet of law enforcement
officers who
>>hit them with clubs and nightsticks.
>>
>>In agreeing to settle, the state admitted no wrongdoing and agreed to
pay
>>the inmates $8 million and their lawyers $4 million in legal fees
and
>>costs. The original class-action lawsuit in 1974 sought $100 million
in
>>damages.