$1.3 Million Awarded in ’71 Shooting of Attica Inmates
ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York court has awarded almost $1.3 million to inmates and the families of inmates shot during the bloody state police assault that ended the 1971 uprising at Attica state prison, the court said today.
In separate decisions, state Court of Claims Judge Donald Corbett said the seven inmates “neither participated in the uprising nor resisted in the retaking” of the prison by New York state police.
Three of the seven inmates were killed in the 10 minutes of police gunfire on the rioting prison inmates. Two others have since died of unrelated causes and two are still alive.
The awards ranged from $35,000 to $475,000.
More than 1,200 inmates took control of the maximum-security prison for four days, holding state prison guards and civilians hostage. The siege ended with the police assault on Sept. 13, 1971.
Forty-three inmates and employees were killed and 80 people were wounded in the retaking, in which state police used gunfire and gas.
The awards are based on the inmates’ pain and suffering, their families’ loss of money based on their future employment prospects and disfigurement.
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