Attica Gunfire Killed Almost Everyone

On September 9, 1971, 1,281 inmates at Attica Correctional Facility in New York seized part of the prison and took 42 staff members hostage while demanding better living conditions and political rights. After four days of negotiations, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered law enforcement to retake the facility by force. Officers dropped tear gas into the yard and opened fire, killing all but one guard and three inmates among the 43 men who died, including nine of the ten correctional officers and employees killed. The Attica uprising ended with the highest death toll in the history of United States prison riots.

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