Book Reviewed by:In The Ascent, Adam Plantinga imagines what it would be like to climb through six levels of a prison in utter chaos: cell doors opening, guards hiding or dead, inmates murdering each other and so much worse. It does not require fiction, however, to imagine these hellscapes: history has many examples of such mayhem. Below are two of America's deadliest prison uprisings.
Attica, 1971
One of the most famous occurred over five days in September 1971 at the Attica State Correctional Facility in upstate New York. The prison's chronic overcrowding and abysmal living conditions (e.g., once-a-week showers and one roll of toilet paper per prisoner per month, among other indignities) erupted into violence on September 9 when inmates overpowered guards and gained control of a central area with access to all cell doors. More than 2,200 inmates joined the rioting that resulted in a guard's death and the burning of the prison chapel. After state troopers stormed the prison and ...
