Page 4
Attica A Year Later
Report Attacks Rockefeller Failure to Visit Prison
Attica, New York (CPS) -- On.
September 9, 1971, inmates at
the Attica State Correctional,
Facility took control of the
prison's "D" block and seized 38
prison guards as hostages. After'
four days of negotiations
between inmates and prison
officials, state police were called
in by Governor Nelson
Rockefeller, fired on the
prisoners and quelled the
rebellion.
As a result, 43 people were
killed, including 11 of the
hostages, and many others
injured. It was later determined
that all 43 had died from police
bullets, despite earlier reports
that many of the hostages had
been killed by the inmates.
A grand jury investigating the
rebellion is still meeting, making
it one of the longest grand juries,
in history. Three commissions
have been set up to investigate
conditions at the prison.
September 12 the New York
St ate Special McKay
Commission on Attica came out
with a report attacking Governor
Rockefeller for failing to inspect
conditions at the correctional
facility before ordering the state
police assault.
The Commission claimed that
"no one can be sure whether the
governor's presence would have
succeeded in producing a
settlement ...but... conditions (at
the prison) made it appropriate
for the governor to go to
Attica."
The Commission's report
attacked the governor for
"committing the state's armed
forces to the prison without first
appearing on the scene and,
satisfying himself that there was.
no other alternative. It is,
possible that even without a
grant of amnesty the governor's
presence at Attica would have
overcome inmate distrust of the
state's commitment to reform
and induced acceptance of the
28 points."
The 28 points were a list of
demands drawn up by the
prisoners, asking for better
prison conditions and amnesty
for the inmates after the
rebellion. Only one of the major
demands has been partially
initiated.
Earlier this year ten black
guards were hired to place
minority group members on the
security force. The guards
represent 25 per cent of the
total security force; 85 per cent
of the inmates are either black
or Spanish-speaking.
ATTENTION!!!!
Today 11-12
TED SORENSEN
Special Assistant to the late President John Kennedy
GALLERY LOUNGE
The report went on to claim
that the presence of the
governor would have been a
stabilizing force on the state
troopers and corrections officers
who took park in the assault on
the prison. The report criticized
the governor's failure to accept a
last minute proposal offered to
him by his aides. The proposal
was that the governor should go
to Attica to negotiate further on
the 28 points "if the inmates
would first release the hostages
and return to their cells."
The assault by the state
police was condemned by the
report as "faulty" since there
was no way it could have saved
the hostages "if the inmates had
been intent on killing them."
The report went on to blame
poor planning and the lack of a
unified command responsible for
"coordinating the assault and
the various state agencies
involved" for the poor medical
attention and rehousing services
that the inmates received after
the assault.
According to the
Commission's report, the state's
failure to supply police with
"non-lethal weapons" along with
the types of guns and
ammunition that were used in
the assault made the occurence
of death and injury "inevitable."
The Commission also critized
the inmates for "taking hostages
as a means of bringing about
changes in society, even where
peaceful efforts of reform have
failed."
The author of the report has
vowed never to turn over his
files on the Attica uprising to
the special grand jury
investigation. Many prisoners
had agreed to talk to the
committee on the promise that
their testimony would be kept
confidential.
The state's deputy attorney
general, Robert Fischer, who is
leading a separate investigation
of the uprising, had subpoenaed
the records of the McKay
commission, despite an alleged
agreement with commission
officials to keep these records
secret.
A spokesman for the Attica
Defense Committee claims that
Fischer, in order to obtain
information, had made deals
with the prisoners. He claims
that prisoners had been offered
pardons, early paroles and
transfers to minimum security
prisons in return for testimony
against those inmates involved in
the uprising.
THE CAPTOLIST
Governor Rockefeller failed
to comment on the
commission's statements
concerning his role in
negotiations during the uprising
and the subsequent assault on
the rebellion. He did
congratulate the commission on
its work, calling it "essential to
carrying out our programs for
improving our system of
criminal justice."
Conditions at the Attica
prison, however, have not
improved in the year following
the inmates unsuccessful
attempts to deal with their
situation, and many articles,
reports and investigations
dealing with the uprising, and
inmates still receive poor wages
for their work, and no efficient
training plans have been enacted.
Defense lawyers for the
leaders of the rebellion are not
allowed to question prospective
jurors in the grand jury
investigation, many of whom are
connected with prison
employees Who reside near the
prison.
William Kunstler, the legal
counsel for a number of the
inmates, faces a jail term if he
refuses to testify in the
investigation.
On the anniversary of the
Attica uprising, 200 to 300
people gathered outside the
prison to pay homage to the 43
men killed during the assault
despite having been denied a
permit to hold their ceremony
by Governor Rockefeller.
A grey stone memorial to the
11 guards had been built, and
the dead inmates' families hope
to place a sculpture honoring
their relatives there also.
In New York City 500 people
participated in a candle-light
march through Harlem,
following a hearse with a coffin
symbolizing the Attica dead.
is: HORROR
FILM
.:,
:$
FESTIVAL
...,.
x Tuesday Night 'Halloween' pi:
Student Center
Pe ....
612. ....
...'
e.i Admission $ .75 ow
.... 4.:
Free with Activities Card
K.:44444.:41:44Nzz0k::::::::;:.x4444.E.1
lIFYI Representatives Presents Lecture
U.F.W. representatives who presented lectures here last
week
Last week, representatives of
the United Farm Workers Union
presented lectures at Captiol
Campus in an attempt to
acquaint people with the plight
of the migrant farm workers in
this country.
Richard Trejo and Cheri
Cinkoske, representatives
working in the eastern
Pennsylvania area, were on hand
to provide information to those
students interested in the
current movement to improve
conditions for the farm workers.
Among the topics discussed
in the presentations were,
accounts of the miserable living
conditions of the migrant
Boycott
Lettuce.
Migrant lettuce workers are on strike for their union. They want
decent wages, toilets in the field, sanitary drinking water conditions
They want an end to racial discrimination on the job, protection
from harmful pesticides, and an end to child labor in the fields.
Just as during the Grape Boycott farm workers have brought their
cause to you, the American consumer, for your support. PLEASE
DON'T BUY LETTUCE, OR EAT LETTUCE! PLEASE DON'T
SERVE LETTUCE IN YOUR HOME, AND PLEASE REFUSE
IT IF SOMEONE SERVES IT TO YOU.
There are many good substitutes for
lettuce spinach, cabbage, kale, endives,
loose-leaf romaine mustard greens and celery.
Migrant workers who pick lettuce need YOUR help if they are to
change their living and working conditions. They earn less than
2,400 a year per entire family. Only .a small portio^ of the
lettuce industry has recognized their workers. You can be sure
that lettuce is harvested under UFW contract only if yo+, see
the symbol of the farm workers the Aztec eagle.
****************** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * *
Dear Cesar:
I support your non-violent efforts, I pledge to tell
my freinds about the letuce boycott. I pledge to not
eat or buy lettuce until tbe lettuce growers negotiate
with the United Farm Workers.
Friq
CITY , STATE
I can do volunteer work, Donate Money , Host a house
meeting, Set up a speaking engagement at my church,
school, union or organization..—...
United Farm Workers, 2536 N. Mascher St. Phila., Pa.
19133, Telehpone: NE4-4145 or RE9-9111 labor donated
opeiu-30 afl-cio
************************************
October 26, 1972
131E1
workers, the obstacles they face
in trying to unionize and
improve their conditions, and
the current boycott on lettuce
which the U.F.W. hopes will
bring the huge farming
corporations to the bargaining
tables.
In trying to help the boycott,
we are printing a pledge which
you, the reader, can sign if you
feel that you would like to help
the movement.
If you have any questions or
seek any further information
about the U.F.W. and its
boycott you can contact Barbara
McLane, 223 Wrisberg Hall or
phone 944-7502 .