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40 years later, report details torture of inmates during Attica riot

By Amy R. Connolly
Prison officials at Attica Correctional Facility in New York clean up weapons and other materials after the 4-day standoff in September 1971 that left 43 dead. Photo by New York State Museum
Prison officials at Attica Correctional Facility in New York clean up weapons and other materials after the 4-day standoff in September 1971 that left 43 dead. Photo by New York State Museum

ALBANY, N.Y., May 22 (UPI) -- Some 40 years after the Attica prison riot, considered the nation's bloodiest, newly unsealed court documents show inmates were denied medical treatment, tortured and beaten, lending credence to the longstanding accounts of abuse at the maximum-security facility.

The documents, volumes two and three of the Meyer Report on the 1971 uprising, show 62 inmates were charged with 1,289 felonies, ranging from kidnapping to murder, and one law enforcement officer was charged with criminal wrongdoing. In the aftermath of the riot, prison guards were seen beating inmates with clubs and ripping bandages off the injured. Guards had set up a gauntlet, put broken glass on the floor and forced inmates to run through.

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One guard reported seeing inmates "beaten on stretchers, poked in the groin and rectum with nightsticks, beaten while running through gauntlets and other severe beatings." The new documents show several witnesses to the crimes against prisoners were never contacted or interviewed in the subsequent investigation.

The riot on Sept. 13, 1971, and five-day standoff at the prison in western New York, came after prisoners had long demanded better living conditions. About 1,000 of the some 2,220 prisoners rebelled, taking 42 staff hostage. The riot left 43 people dead, including 10 guards and 33 prisoners, and 89 wounded. All but four of the deaths were at the hands of law enforcement.

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The newly revealed information, prepared in 1975 for Gov. Hugh Cary and state Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz, is part a three-volume report. Volume one was made public in 1975, but the other two were sealed until 2014, after state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman requested it be unsealed. It was ordered released last year, but with some information redacted. The new redacted version was released this week.

"Today, we are shining new light on one of the darkest chapters of our history," said Marty Mack, executive deputy attorney general for regional affairs. "We hope that, with the release of the Meyer Report, we can bring the families of Attica uprising victims closer to closure and help future generations of Americans learn from this tragic event."

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