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Attica was representative of how jurisdictions across the nation operated their maximum-security prisons during the turbulent '70s, long before the designations of medium- and minimum-security facilities entered the correctional lexicography. Then, a Sept. 9, 1971 dispute between an officer and an inmate mushroomed into the deadliest one-day encounter among Americans since the Civil War, leaving 11 staff and 32 inmates dead in its wake. While debates continue today as to the root causes and direct results of the riot, this much is clear: Attica's increased staff is now among the best trained in the nation, while inmates participate in a myriad of programs unheard of 33 years ago. Rates of violence inside its walls are at near-record low levels. The prison is today representative of the nation's best in correctional administration and operations.
Many of the criticisms leveled in the 1970s at the nation's penal system in general and Attica in particular have long since been addressed.
Security and civilian staffing have been considerably increased, inmate out of cell time has been expanded along with a myriad of rehabilitative programs to occupy inmates in a productive manner. The prison's operations and management have been accredited several times as meeting national standards.
Attica first made headlines when it opened in 1931. Hailed as "the last word in modern prison construction," with advanced security features and technological innovations.
Ironically, Attica would next make headlines in 1971, when a mechanical breakdown of the most primitive kind - a faulty weld on a gate - foiled that much ballyhooed technology and led to the most deadly riot in New York state prison history.
Attica becomes fifth maximum-security facility
In 1926, more than 7,000 inmates were crammed into the 4,831 cells in the four state prisons, and prisoners were "doubled up" in tiny, primitive, unsanitary cells at Sing Sing, Auburn and Clinton.Awall was being built around Great Meadow to convert it to maximum-security.
Since those four prisons were located in the eastern and central areas of the state, the new institution was to be built out west, with the location chosen by a site selection committee.
With admissions exceeding releases by 500 a year, the Legislature in 1927 authorized a fifth prison, appropriating $3.5 million for the 697-acre plot and construction of Attica.
Contracts were let in September and ground was broken on October 15, 1929. The architect and contractors were equal to the "quicksand problem." The location of the wall and some of the buildings was shifted to avoid silt deposits; foundation pilings were driven to depths of 70 feet, and steel tubing was sunk in "soft spots" and then filled with concrete.
William J. Beardsley of Poughkeepsie, designer of the Erie County Penitentiary (now DOCS' Wende facility), was engaged as architect. Beardsley produced a blueprint remarkable for its strength and simplicity. The architecture is marked by dignified symmetry, with repeating window and roof patterns but little in the way of ornamental flourishes. The principal structures are laid out in three nested rectangles: an inner quadrangle of adjoining cell-blocks ringed by an outer group of support buildings, all enclosed within the prison wall.
The nucleus of the prison is a rectangle of around 7½ grassy acres. Each side of the rectangle is a three-story cellblock. Within this innermost quadrangle, enclosed corridors connect the cellblocks in a plus-sign, intersecting at a point called "Times Square" - the geometric and symbolic center of the prison. The corridors divide the interior into four smaller recreation yards,with security observation towers overlooking each.
Second, ringed around the cellblock quadrangle are administration, program, industry and support buildings, all located within the exterior wall of the prison.
Lastly comes the great, graywall - a mile and a fifth long, 30 feet high and sunk 12 feet into the earth. Attica's wall created a stir when it was built. It cost $1,275,000 or more than three times what was appropriated in 1911 for the construction of the Great Meadow prison.
Unlike most prison walls constructed earlier, Attica's wall had a rounded top, so that it could not easily be conquered with grappling hooks. The rounded top also meant that it could not be patrolled on foot. Instead, guard posts, with spired roofs, were built at the corners and other critical points. The front wall angles away from the cellblocks to provide distance before coming to a point, allowing an improved view for the wall tower officers while creating "breathing room" for the administration building behind it.
The cell-blocks, 600 feet long and three tiers high, are identical with one interesting difference. Three (designated as A-, Band D-Blocks) were built on the Auburn design, with inside- cells back-to-back in the center of the building. But C-Block, on the north side, was built on the older outside-cell plan, with the cells against the outer walls and walkways down the center of each tier. Since each inmate had his own window at the rear of his cell, C-Block was considered preferred housing and was reserved for well-behaved inmates with farm, mess-hall and hospital work assignments. This continued until D-Block (on the south side of the quadrangle) was renovated as honor housing in the 1970's.
A-Block construction was completed two months early, in 1931. Some 120 "guards," then the official title of the custodial officers, were hired. William F. Hunt was appointed Attica's first warden, transferring from that post at Great Meadow.
Locals refer to inmates as "fellow citizens"
The first 36 prisoners arrived from Sing Sing in June 1931, followed by 50 more from Elmira. Auburn inmates, who had earlier been transferred in to help with construction, departed their cantonment, which was then converted to a farm building.
The town welcomed the new prisoners. They referred to them as "fellow citizens" and brought books and magazines to the prison. "Amateur projectionists" went into the prison with reels of motion pictures to show themen. The town organized a "home guard" to assist tracking down escapees and be on hand in the event of a riot.
One Head Teacher was appointed in 1933. He supervised a crew of inmate instructors. In 1935, three more teachers (elementary, commercial and vocational subjects) were hired, assisted by some 35 inmate teachers providing classroom and cell study instruction in morning and afternoon sessions. Some inmates took correspondence courses. Altogether, between a quarter and a fifth of the population usually partook of some kind of formal education program.
Little was offered in the way of recreation. The prison chaplain was in charge of organizing diversions: movies on Saturday afternoons, musical performances by the prison band, orchestra and choir groups, and occasional shows by outside performers. There were baseball and football leagues, segregated by race. It was not until 1974 that a gymnasium was built.
Only one of the original structures is gone: the building holding the carpenter, tailor and shoe shops behind D-Block, destroyed in the 1971 riot.
Several buildings were added to the original construction. A fifth housing unit, E-Block, a two-story, cross-shaped building with 270 cells, was completed in 1966 The same year, a long, one-story structure was placed between the administration building and A-Block; this contains the guidance office, chaplains' offices and the visiting and package rooms. In 1973, a new commissary was snuggled in between the mess hall and the laundry/shower building, and a large storage building wasplaced behind the mess hall in 1976. In 1990, a long, low warehouse for Corcraft was built.
A gymnasium, part of the original plan, was at long last built in 1974. A new two-story vocational building was placed alongside the auditorium-chapel building in 1978, and a one-story school annex was placed next to the academic building in 1984. The three Family Reunion Program modular homes, where inmates are permitted extended visits with legal spouses and approved family members, were added in the late 1980's. The last major addition was the completion of a modern infirmary, located near the north wall, in 1995.
When Attica opened, it replaced Auburn as the receiving facility for prisoners sentenced out of courts in the western counties of the state. An ambitious "classification clinic" was set up in 1933, with the psychiatrist in charge assisted by a psychologist and clerical staff. Newly-received inmates were housed for several weeks in the reception building, where they would be examined and evaluated by the psychiatrist, physician, dentist, social worker, head teacher, industrial superintendent, chaplain and security officials.
The new Department of Correction had just recently established, in 1927, for the purpose of unifying New York's various prisons, mental hospitals and reformatories into a rational system. Riots at Clinton and Auburn in 1929 led to a reaffirmation of purpose with the report of the Lewisohn Commission, whose progressive vision of a professionally run, diversified system was enthusiastically embraced by the legislative and executive branches of government. The classification clinics were a core of the Lewisohn program, and steps toward diversification were taken with the opening of Wallkill, Coxsackie and Woodbourne in the early 1930's.
The depression and World War II ended the dream. Funding for the promised system of diversified institutions and professional staff was not forthcoming. Within a few years, the psychiatrist and psychologist positions went vacant; still vacant, they were transferred in 1945 to the new reception center at Elmira. Attica continued to receive inmates from the courts, but classification was largely reduced to a review of the probation pre-sentence report, an enemies check and an interview to determine gross physical or psychiatric problems.
When a service (guidance) unit opened in 1950, it assumed some of the classification functions, and an infusion of funds after the riot brought back professional classification staff. The classification unit closed in 1975 when the classification function was shifted elsewhere, first to Clinton and then to Downstate. Attica's designation as a receiving facility was finally discontinued when Wende opened in 1983.
"Attica is every prison, every prison is Attica"
That quote is how Robert B. McKay summarized his 1972 tome entitled The Official Report of the New York State Special Commission on Attica.
It examined the September 9-13, 1971, riot that left 11 employees and 32 inmates dead. While 10 employees and 29 inmates were killed in the re-taking of the prison, it should also be remembered that one employee and three inmates were murdered during the stand-off by the inmates who incited the riot in the first place.
Attica was representative of penology across the nation in 1971; the riot made it the flashpoint for reform. It stands today as an example of the best the penological system has to offer in the new millennium.
The Attica riot spurred a reflection upon those issues not only at Attica, but throughout the Department as well as at prisons and among systems across the nation.
At Attica in particular, changes led to a safer institution, staffed by professionally-trained uniformed and non-uniformed personnel who provide the "best practices" developed since 1971 that are accepted today as national standards for prison operation and administration.
The facility has also been accredited triennially since 1989 by the American Correctional Association, which establishes and then audits compliance with nationally-accepted standards for the administration and operation of correctional facilities.
DOCS has, over the past three decades, become a national and international leader in correctional policy. It is as much a symbol of penology today as it was the focus of national policies that existed in 1971.
The most significant changes are these key components designed to provide DOCS with the in-house capability of resolving inmate issues and prison incidents without the use of excessive or outside force:
DOCS leads the nation in providing extensive, mandatory and state-of-the-art, in-service training for employees. Attica's 872 employees participated in more than 32,000 hours of training last year.
Most inmates will return to society. DOCS has, over the past 30 years, made a commitment, and has maintained that commitment, to provide meaningful rehabilitative programming for inmates who want to make use of them. While inmates spent 14 hours a day in their cells in 1971, today they have 16 hours out of their cells each day.
To accommodate that, security staff has been increased since 1971 by 45 percent and civilian staffing by a whopping 86 percent. The massive infusion of civilian staff was to provide services to inmates unheard of in prisons around the nation in 1971 - and in some other state systems even today.
Since 1971, a vocational school and a gymnasium have been constructed at Attica. There are currently 12 vocational shops, with State Education Department-certified instructors teaching printing, welding, building maintenance, floor covering, custodial maintenance, radio/TV repair, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation workshop, electrical trades, plumbing and heating, small engine repair, plus two general business programs.
Academic education employs 11 teachers, provides for instruction in Adult Basic Education, pre-high school equivalency, high school equivalency plus English as a Second Language.
A state-of-the-art computer lab provides computer-assisted instructional opportunities. All DOCS facilities make education mandatory, at least to the ninth grade level in reading and math.
A Guidance Unit, comprised of three Senior Counselors and 17 Counselors, provides for transitional service programming plus group counseling in specialized areas such as Sex Offender Counseling and four Aggression Replacement Training Programs. In addition, several other counseling programs are offered, such as Anger and Violence workshops, anti-drug groups, "long-distance Dad" parenting training and domestic violence counseling.
Effective substance abuse treatment programs are often paramount to the success of an individual upon release. DOCS is a national leader in providing inmates with substance abuse treatment programs. At any one time, nearly 15,000 inmates within the Department are participating in substance abuse treatment programs, with more than 30,000 inmates participating in such programs annually.
Attica has an 86-bed Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program providing a six-month intensive therapeutic community-based treatment regimen. The RSAT program is staffed by certified alcohol and substance abuse treatment specialists. In addition, an Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment program accommodates 50 inmates in the afternoon and evening program modules. These programs are augmented by A.A. and other facility drug programs.
In partnership with the state Office of Mental Health (OMH),DOCSprovides for an extensive array ofmental health services at Attica. Attica was the first prison in the state to provide a Specialized Treatment Program (STP), a mental health group and individualized treatment program for those inmates whose disruptive behavior led to their long-term confinement in disciplinary Special Housing Units (SHUs). A new, state-of-the-art OMHsatellite unit is being constructed at a cost of $5 million. It will open in August. Attica is in the national forefront in providing this type of treatment.
Attica in 1983 opened a 78-bed Intermediate Care Program (ICP), a physically-separate residential treatment program for inmates who, by virtue of a debilitating mental illness, are unable to function in the general prison population. Also provided is an OMH Satellite Unit dormitory and observation unit.
Attica provides a full array ofmedical services to the inmate population. In 1995, a 30-bed, $6.5 million infirmary was added at Attica. Afull range of dental services is also provided to inmates.
The Family Reunion Program and extensive visiting programs allow inmates unparalleled access to and time with their spouses, children and all other family members.
Religious services and studies are provided by seven chaplains at Attica (three full-time and four part-time), assisted by over 200 registered volunteers. Religious services and studies in a large number of faiths are provided on a weekly basis to meet the varied spiritual needs of the population.
An extensively stocked, up-to-date law library, with inmate assistants trained to assist their peers, provides resources and access to the legal system. The general library offers inmates a variety of choices as well as access to periodicals of all types from virtually all sources.
One area that remains an on-going challenge to the Department is the recruitment of minority staff. By collective bargaining agreement, employees are free to choose the facilities at which they work based upon their seniority. State law and equal protection statutes prevent this Department from enticing minorities to work at Attica by offering them any incentives not available to all employees.
Those obstacles notwithstanding, the Department mounts intensive advertising and recruitment campaigns in minority communities whenever it plans to offer an Officer exam.
Attica's legacy was to transform penology
Tremendous change has taken place in Attica over the last three decades. DOCS is proud of the job that staff at Attica and 69 other prisons perform each day. They are representative of the best correction professionals in the country, providing the highest security in a humane, progressive environment.
Chairman McKay's observation about Attica in 1971 - that "Attica is every prison, every prison is Attica" - is still true today, but with an immense difference.Where Chairman McKay used Attica as a symbol of the neglect of correctional systems by governments across the nation, Attica today is a symbol of vast improvement over the course of three decades.
Attica is representative of prisons across New York but ahead of many around the nation. It offers a safe and secure environment for a professional, prepared and well-trained staff.
That environment also allows willing inmates to participate in full and productive rehabilitative programming, while meeting our obligations to meet or exceed constitutional minima in providing medical and mental health services, access to the courts and outside world, maintaining family ties and a host of other programs - offerings that increase prison safety while affording inmates the best chance of success upon their release.
Attica remains at the forefront in changing the face of penology. As we enter the new millennium, DOCS has recalled its past in order to write a better future.
The true legacy of Attica is that today's prison system in New York bears no resemblance to the one McKay examined in 1972.
Article is from DOCS TODAY May 2004