New York (State). Special Commission on Attica

On September 9, 1971 a group of inmates at Attica Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison in western New York, began an uprising which lasted for five days. One guard, William Quinn, was killed and forty guards and civilian employees were taken hostage. The prisoners managed to gain control over parts of the prison, including D-yard. Negotiations began and demands were issued for such things as improved living conditions and educational opportunities, but the talks fell through. Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller ordered Attica to be taken by force. On the morning of Monday, September 13, 1971, as inmates held knives to the throats of hostages in view of police helicopters, the New York State Police dropped tear gas into D-yard and began a barrage of shooting which lasted for over five minutes and during which 2,200 rounds were discharged. As the smoke cleared, the bodies of 10 hostages and 29 inmates lay in the yard while another 80 people were seriously wounded.

In order to gain some understanding as to what caused this horrific event, on September 16, 1971 Governor Rockefeller, Senate Majority Leader Earl Brydges, Assembly Speaker Perry Duryea Jr., Senate Minority Leader Joseph Zaretzki, and Assembly Minority Leader Stanley Steingut asked that Chief Justice Stanley H. Huld and the four presiding State Appellate Division judges appoint a citizen's committee to investigate the events preceding, during, and after the riot. By October 1 the nine committee members, as well as the general counsel for the committee, had been named.

The members were: Robert B. McKay, Chairman of the Commission and Dean of New York University Law School; Edwin B. Broderick, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany; Robert L. Carter, former general counsel of the NAACP and lawyer with Poletti Friedin Prashker Feldman & Gartner in New York City; Amalia R. Guerrero, founder and president of the Society of Friends of Puerto Rico and former member of the New York State Parks Commission for the city of New York; Amos Henix, former inmate and executive director of Reality House, a drug rehabilitation program in Manhattan; Burke Marshal, Deputy Dean of Yale University Law School and former head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice; Walter Rothschild, Chairman of the Board of the New York Urban Coalition and former president of Abraham and Strauss; Dorothy Wadsworth, director of development at Rochester Institute of Technology; William Willbanks, doctoral candidate at the School of Criminal Justice, SUNY; and, as general counsel, Arthur L. Liman, partner in Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and former United States attorney.

Governor Rockefeller signed an executive order on November 15, 1971 authorizing the citizen's committee, officially named the New York State Special Commission on Attica (commonly referred to as the McKay Commission after its chairman), "to conduct a full and impartial investigation and complete report of the facts and circumstances leading up to, during, and following the events that occurred at the Attica Correctional Facility between on or about September 9, 1971 and September 13, 1971." The Commission findings were to be "in addition to, apart from, and not in lieu of the criminal investigation." The Governor extended to the Commission under Section 6 of the Executive Law the power to "subpoena and enforce the attendance of witnesses, to administer oaths, and examine witnesses under oath, and to require the production of any books or papers deemed relevant or material." Rockefeller's executive order also stated that "every State department, division, board, bureau, and agency shall provide to the Committee every assistance, facility, and cooperation which may be necessary or desirable for the accomplishment of the duties or purposes of the Committee under this law."

On November 23, 1971 the Commission and general counsel made their first visit to Attica. By December 10, 1971 the Commission had established offices in New York City, Rochester, Batavia, and in Attica in order to question over 3000 people with first-hand knowledge of the events of September 9-13, 1971, including inmates, correction officers, civilian employees, State Police, National Guardsmen, sheriff's deputies, members of the observer's committee (a committee made up of representatives from various organizations [ex. The Black Panthers, the Young Lords Party, and members of the media, among others] called in to facilitate the negotiations between inmates and prison officials during the riot), doctors, members of the media, citizens of Attica, officials at the Department of Corrections, and the governor.

A series of public hearings was aired on television, highlighting testimony given by individuals the Commission felt were representative of the larger groups which had been questioned. These hearings took place from April 13-14, 1972 in Rochester and from April 17-27, 1972 in New York City. One additional public hearing was held on May 10, 1972 to allow any person who felt he or she had a statement of interest to the Commission to speak. Eight citizens, including former inmates, spoke.

The Commission's findings, in the form of a 500 page report, were released on September 12, 1972. McKay and his fellow commissioners concluded their work by criticizing New York State prison authorities and Governor Rockefeller. They chastised prison officials for their poor planning and their quick embrace of lethal methods to subdue rebelling prisoners and they criticized Rockefeller for his failure to visit the prison site before ordering an armed assault of the facility.

In general, the Commission suggested that the New York State prison system be restructured using the following principles as guidelines: if prisoners are to learn to be citizens, they should have the rights of citizens except for liberty of person; confinement of an inmate should not be excessive; the programs and policies associated with confinement should elevate and enhance inmates, not debase and dehumanize; community groups and outside professionals should be allowed and encouraged to participate regularly in the life of the correctional facility; correction officers must have training to "sensitize them to understand and deal with the new breed of young inmates from the urban ghettos and to understand and control the racism in themselves"; correctional facilities must be staffed by persons motivated to help inmates; vocational training and other educational programs should be conducted in accordance with the preceding principles; and the parole system must be measured by clear and comprehensive standards, disseminated to the inmates in advance.

The Attica saga did not end with the conclusion of the McKay Commission. Just before the release of its final report, the Commission's records were subpoenaed by the ongoing criminal investigation headed by Deputy Attorney General Robert E. Fischer. This subpoena was effectively quashed in early 1973. In 1974, inmate survivors of the Attica uprising filed a class action lawsuit (which alleged that inmates had been abused and mistreated by state authorities) against state officials or their estates. After a lengthy legal battle the case was assigned to the U.S. District Court Western District of New York in August 1999 and a settlement was reached in January 2000. The State of New York (without admitting liability) paid $8 million, apportioned by the Court, to qualified plaintiffs and $4 million to cover the plaintiffs' legal fees. In March 2001 Governor George Pataki appointed an Attica Task Force to investigate issues raised (such as the need for an apology from the state and reparations for their suffering) by The Forgotten Victims of Attica, a group representing former Attica hostages and the families of the 11 employees killed. After holding public hearings in early 2002, the task force, headed by Glenn S. Goord, the state commissioner of correctional services, began a long review of the information gathered. In January 2005 Governor Pataki announced that the state would pay $12 million to the survivors and the families of the slain employees.

From the New York State Archives, Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY. Agency record NYSV2122941-a