Search About Newsletters Donate
During the 1971 uprising at Attica State Prison, prisoners wearing cloaks and football helmets, some of them with makeshift weapons, waited to negotiate their demands with state officials. Bob Schutz/Associated Press
Updated 5:20 p.m. EDT
09.14.2021
Looking Back

Revisiting the Attica Riot in Real-Time 50 Years Later

The infamous 1971 prison revolt ended with a bloody police siege. We retell the story, minute-by-minute.

On the morning of Sept. 13, 1971, New York state troopers raided the rural upstate Attica prison where prisoners had taken control four days earlier, holding dozens of guards and other employees hostage and demanding reforms. By the time order was restored, 10 hostages and 29 prisoners had been killed by police gunfire. Scores more were wounded. Four others — one guard and three prisoners — were killed by the prisoners earlier in the rebellion.

The Marshall Project has written about the tensions and brutality that still pervade Attica today and the many books that explore the conditions that made Attica ripe for revolt and the investigations that followed.

To mark the 50th anniversary of this seminal moment in American criminal justice history, The Marshall Project told the story of the uprising from beginning to end. As we did five years ago for the 45th anniversary, we used Twitter to walk through the events that led up to the riot, the days of negotiations for the release of the hostages and finally, the violent state police siege that ended the stalemate.

Each tweet went out at roughly the same date and time as the events 50 years earlier. Here, we've collected the entire updated storyline from @atticasghosts.

Become a Member

Join the community that keeps criminal justice on the front page.

Sept. 8, 1971

Sept. 9, 1971

Sept. 10, 1971

Life Inside newsletter

Subscribe to get essays delivered to you as they're published every week.

Sept. 11, 1971

Sept. 12, 1971

Sept. 13, 1971

Sept. 14, 1971

Our reporting has real impact on the criminal justice system

View All Impact Arrow
Michelle Jones was incarcerated in Indiana for more than two decades and was released last month. In a breathtaking feat of rehabilitation, Jones has become a published scholar of American history and an author of plays.
Our print publication for incarcerated audiences, News Inside, inspired Alex Valentine to start a peer-supported literacy program for other incarcerated people.
A mother with her son in South Carolina in January. He was taken from her and placed in foster care only to be returned weeks later.
Our 2020 investigation into children being placed in short-term foster care created change before it was even published.
The Language Project, our series on the impact of words used to describe incarcerated people, prompted several newsrooms to reconsider their language and influenced the “style bible” of American journalism, the AP Stylebook.

Our journalism establishes facts, exposes failures and examines solutions for a criminal justice system in crisis. If you believe in what we do, become a member today.

Donate
Tags: →Attica Correctional Facility →Attica →Prison Riot →Prison Reform

Stay up to date on our reporting and analysis.

About
People
Jobs
Sitemap
Funders