40 Years After the Attica Uprising:
Looking Back, Moving Forward
University at Buffalo Law School, The Baldy Center for Law & Social Policy
Monday, September 12 & Tuesday 13, 2011
The Uprising
Forty years ago, a prisoner rebellion at the Attica State Prison would bring to the attention of the world long-festering problems within the U.S. prison system. A tide of social changes catalyzed by the Civil Rights Movement since the 1950s pushed against a conservative prison system that continued to reflect Jim Crow Era beliefs and conditions, and accorded prisoners few rights. Politically sophisticated Black and Latino prisoners chafed under the control of exclusively White correctional officers. Cultural misunderstanding, meager educational opportunities, and poor conditions of confinement further exacerbated tensions within the prison until violence broke out On September 9, 1971. The Attica Uprising, the deadliest prison unrest in U.S. History, would end four days later after a siege by the State Police. Twenty-nine prisoners, and ten security and civilian staff died.
The Conference
Six panels of experts represented diverse stakeholders, including:
- Looking Back: The Attica Uprising and Aftermath
- Prisons, Empowerment, and Resistance
- Attica, Prisons & the Media
- Prison Violence in Feminist Perspective: Gender, Sexuality, and Race
- Past Demands, Current Concerns: How Far Have We Come?
- Moving Forward: Prison Reform in an Era of Mass Incarceration and Fiscal Crisis
- Keynote address by Brian Fischer, Commissioner of the NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
- Screening of Attica-related films, including Ghosts of Attica
Media Coverage
- UB Law School to host conference on Attica prison riot, The Daily News (Batavia), Sept. 09, 2011
- 40 years since deadliest prison riot in US history, WVIB, Sept. 11, 2011
- Attica: 40 Years Later, WNED, Sept. 12, 2011
- UB conference looks back at Attica, Buffalo Business First, Sept. 12, 2011
- Attica uprising explored at NY conference, Wall Street Journal (AP), Sept. 12, 2011
- Attica uprising explored at NY conference, Times Union (AP), Sept. 12, 2011
- Attica uprising explored at NY conference, Houston Chronicle (AP), Sept. 12, 2011
- Attica uprising explored at NY conference, WHEC-Houston (AP), Sept. 12, 2011
- Attica Remembered... 40 Years Later, WGRZ, Sept. 12, 2011
- Forty Years Since Deadliest Prison Riot in History, WKPW, Sept. 12, 2011
- Panel discusses deadly prison riot at Attica, WVIB, Sept. 12, 2011
- Attica's prison walls cast a long shadow, The Daily News (Batavia), Sept. 13, 2011
- Attica uprising: Lessons learned, WBFO, Sept. 13, 2011
- Reconciling those four deadly days at Attica, The Buffalo News, Sept. 13, 2011
- Attica uprising conference wrapping up in Buffalo, Times Union (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- Attica uprising conference wrapping up in Buffalo, Seattle PI (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- Nixon, Rockefeller discuss Attica in new tapes, Seattle Times (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- Nixon, Rockefeller discuss Attica in new tapes, The Sun-LA (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- Nixon, Rockefeller discuss Attica in new tapes, Wall Street Journal (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- After Attica: New Tapes Revealed, WBEN, Sept. 13, 2011
- Four decades after Attica: a troubled legacy of prison reform, Free Speech Radio News, Sept. 13, 2011
- President Nixon, NY Gov. Rockefeller discuss Attica prison uprising in newly published tapes, Star Tribune (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- Nixon, Rockefeller discuss Attica in new tapes, The Buffalo News (AP), Sept. 13, 2011
- Emotional Ceremony Marks 40 Years Since End of Attica Prison Riot, YNN, Sept. 13, 2011
- Attica rebellion commemorated, Workers World, Sept. 22, 2011