This month marks the 35th anniversary of the inmate uprising and massacre at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Sadly, three and a half decades after the bloodiest prison uprising in U.S. history, the problems of prisoner abuse and mistreatment that led to the uprising are still all-too-common.
On Sept. 9, 1971, Attica's 1,281 inmates -- predominantly black and Latino -- gained control of the prison. This was after prison officials ignored their requests for better living conditions, showers, educational instruction and vocational training. Inmates in Attica faced overcrowding, racist treatment from white prison guards and such indignities as one shower a week and one roll of toilet paper a month.
After an impasse following four days of negotiations, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller decided as "a matter of principle" to take the prison by force. The governor sent more than 500 troopers with helicopters, tear gas, shotguns and a barrage of 2,200 bullets. The troops killed inmates and hostages alike. In the end, 43 people were killed (including 10 hostages) and 90 were wounded.
After the retaking of Attica, guards sought severe reprisals against the inmates. Guards tortured some inmates and denied medical treatment to others who had sustained wounds. Guards forced prisoners to run down a catwalk and beat them with what they called their "n----- sticks."
Fast forward to 2006: Torture and abuse remain a reality in U.S. prisons. According to Amnesty International, "thousands of prisoners are held in supermax facilities in long-term solitary confinement under conditions which may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." The human rights organization also condemns as a violation of international law a number of other disturbing practices in U.S. prisons, including the more than 2,000 child offenders serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole; unsupervised access of male guards to female prisoners, resulting in sexual abuse; the shackling of pregnant women detainees during labor; and the use of electro-shock weapons such as tasers.
Our prisons have become overcrowded partly as a result of a "tough on crime" and "lock 'em up" mentality, as well as the abandonment of prisoner rehabilitation and the severe sentencing brought on by the failed war on drugs. There are more than 2.2 million incarcerated people in the United States, mostly poor and of color. America incarcerates more people per capita than any other country.
In June 2006, the Vera Institute of Justice's Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, a nonpartisan think tank, identified a wide range of problems. These include a lack of prison oversight and accountability, medical neglect of inmates, prison violence and inappropriate segregation in high-security units and "supermax" prisons. The commission recommended a variety of reforms, including reinvestment in prison programs, extending Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement to prisons, better training of corrections officers and standardized reporting nationwide on prison violence and abuse.
Human Rights Watch reported in 2003 that the nation's prisons have become a repository for the mentally ill. As many as 300,000 prisoners are mentally ill and face inhumane conditions such as lack of treatment, abuse by prison staff, denial of water and confinement in filthy cells. Some believe that prisoners deserve whatever they get. But we all have rights as human beings.
The abuse of prisoners is a human rights violation, a constitutional violation and a threat to us all. We lose our soul as we dehumanize prisoners. Thirty-five years after Attica, America's abuse of prisoners remains shameful.
This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project, which is run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by the Tribune News Service.