BEFORE: It's very difficult for me to concentrate lately, because I did apply for a new job, and that seems to be all that I can focus on, waiting to hear if I'm going to get an interview or not. I don't want to say too much about it and jinx it, but I did tell a few friends and co-workers about it, just to give them a heads-up - also I called in a few favors for some references and recommendations, which is very unlike me, usually I'd just sit and stew in silence, desperately hoping. But I really want the new gig, I've got to start making some moves in my career before it's too late - so I think that's worth calling in a few favors from people with connections. Cross your fingers for me - but it might take weeks before anyone contacts me for an interview, or maybe they won't call me at all, it's tough to say.
Walter Cronkite carries over again from "The Mystery of D.B. Cooper" - and I'm sticking with news events of 1971.
THE PLOT: This unnervingly vivid dive into the 1971 uprising sheds new light on the enduring violence and racism of the prison system and highlights the urgent, ongoing need for reform 50 years later.
AFTER: Well, if you're not having a great day, if you're frustrated with your job(s) or your relationship isn't going well, or you just feel overall depressed regarding your place in the world, this is the kind of film that can really help you find some perspective - because at least you weren't involved in a prison riot today. Heck, at least you're not in prison, that's something right there. My chances of getting shanked or beaten by the guards or shot by a SWAT team trying to regain control of the prison yard were essentially zero, and I'm thankful for that, really.
And if you think the prison system in this country suffers from systemic racism, just imagine how bad things were back in 1971, even in a prison in upstate New York, a very liberal state overall, but once you go upstate or out on Long Island, really, all bets are kind of off. I mean, even the prison system in New York City is inherently racist, even now, so it's probably terrible out in the suburbs and more rural areas.
So when the Attica Prison Riot (or Rebellion, or Uprising, or Massacre, depending on who you ask) took place, it was a (mostly) black group of inmates against a (mostly, if not all) white group of prison guards - there was inspiration drawn from the Black Panther movement, and other Civil Rights groups when the inmates rose up and took over the entire complex. They were seeking better living conditions and political rights, and they weren't wrong, because I think at the time people in prison couldn't vote, and were at the mercy of very violent (and usually racist) guards.
Over 1,200 of the 2,200 incarcerated men rioted and took control of the prison - which means that what, 1,000 guys just stayed in their cells and didn't want any trouble? I'm not sure that was an option for anyone at the time, because taking 42 staff members hostage meant that nobody was in charge of running the prison, so that meant nobody supervised the meals, and eventually the inmates were going to run out of food - it's a wonder that they lasted four days of chaos and nobody cooking things, plus no water, which meant that the inmates had to dig latrines in the yard and endure miserable conditions - yet everyone still wanted to sleep outside, because they hadn't done anything like that in so long. It's funny what you miss when you don't have your freedom, I guess. (I hate camping, so it probably would take a long prison sentence for me to want to sleep outside.)
Four days of negotiations proved fruitless when the authorities agreed to 28 of the prisoners' demands, but NOT to give them amnesty from prosecution for taking over the prison in the first place. Naturally this is where the sticking point was, because the prisoners feared retaliation from the guards as soon as they surrendered control of the prison back to them - and Governor Rockefeller, the head of the NY State Prison system, and a host of corrections officers and state police weren't going to simply overlook the fact that the inmates had risen up and their actions had apparently led to the death of at least one C.O. A similar uprising had occurred at the Manhattan Detention Complex the year before, and after an 8-hour hostage situation, the state officials promised not to take punitive action against the rioters - only THEY DID, they broke their promise and had the rioters shipped upstate - to Attica, where several were held for months in solitary confinement.
In August 1971, a member of the Black Panther Party had been shot and killed while trying to escape from San Quentin prison in California, and the day after his death, 700 Attica inmates took part in a hunger strike in his honor, and it was believed that this led indirectly to the riot. The prison was entirely on edge, so that a small incident of violence in the recreation year and another bit of confusion over some locked doors may have caused the riot. The inmates sought media attention fairly quickly after taking control of the prison, and re-presented a list of demands they had made two months before, which had been ignored by the warden and the State Commissioner of Corrections. A group of reporters and outside observers was let in to the prison to assist with negotiations.
Things fell apart when that guard died in the hospital, and got worse when Gov. Rockefeller refused to visit the prison, and instead authorized the State Police to retake the facility by force, and during that process, which involved hundreds of state troopers, 128 men were shot in the prison, 29 inmates died and nine of the hostages were killed. But initially it was reported that the prisoners had slit the throats of those hostages - that wasn't true, they were killed by gunfire, which meant the police killed innocent hostages, which is incredibly irresponsible and morally wrong in SO many ways.
Then came the horrible treatment of the surviving prisoners, who were stripped naked and made to crawl on the ground, through the blood and through the latrines, then they were repeatedly beaten as they were brought back to their cells. Several of the riot's ringleaders were clearly and systematically killed by the guards, even after control of the prison had been regained. This amounted to summary execution, which was blatantly illegal. Anyone present as observers, such as National Guardsmen assigned to carry out the bodies, was told to never speak of the torture of the inmates they witnessed after the riots. Inmates were treated for wounds received from beatings for many days after the uprising was over.
Then the investigations and lawsuits began - 62 inmates were charged or indicted within the next four years, and two inmates were convicted for assault and murder for the death of that guard. But there was no disciplinary action against the state police who killed inmates and hostages while re-taking the prison, although there were reports that the Attica Task Force was covering up evidence of criminal actions by law enforcement. Five years later, the new governor of New York "closed the book" on Attica by pardoning all inmates who pleaded guilty to get reduced sentences and also dismissed all pending disciplinary actions against the law enforcement officers. Civil suits from inmates, famlies of deceased inmates, prison employees and families of slain prison employees, however, dragged on until 2000 and 2005.
I'm trying to be generous with my rating tonight - because I learned so much about the incident that I never knew before. That should be the true test of a documentary, I think - though I'll admit I fell asleep watching this on Monday night, I did finish it on Tuesday morning after I woke up.
Also starring James Asbury, David Brosig, Daniel Callaghan, Tad Crawford, Stewart Dan, John Dunne, Elizabeth Gaynes, Arthur Harrison, Joe Heath, John Johnson, Clarence B. Jones, Lawrence Akil Killebrew, Tyrone Larkins, Dee Quinn Miller, Don Mitzel, George Che Nieves, Carlos Roche, David Rothenberg, Raymond Scott, Herman Schwartz, Alhajji Sharif, Daniel Sheppard, Lewis M. Steel, Ann Valone, Jaime Valone, Maryann Valone, Al Victory,
with archive footage of L.D. Barkley, John Chancellor (also carrying over from "The Mystery of D.B. Cooper"), Edward Cunningham, John Edland, George Jackson, William Kunstler (last seen in "Malcolm X"), Al Mitzel, John Monahan, Roger Mudd, Richard Nixon (last seen in "Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool"), Russell Oswald, William Quinn, Dan Rather (last seen in "Citizen Ashe"), Harry Reasoner, Nelson Rockefeller (last seen in "Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation"), Jerry Rosenberg, Bobby Seale (last seen in "Judas and the Black Messiah"), Frank Smith, Michael Smith, Carl Valone, Michael Whiteman, Tom Wicker, Malcolm X (last seen in "What Happened, Miss Simone?")
RATING: 6 out of 10 tear gas canisters
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