The riot at Attica Prison began on September 09, 1971 and ended on September 13, 1971. The riot began when prisoners became fed up with their treatment. Even though people are incarcerated for all manner of things, there are still human rights in place. Torture, beatings, starvation and inedible food, and lack of medical care should not be allowed. During the riot, prisoners took forty two correctional officers and staff as hostages. Ultimately, ten correctional officers and staff were murdered. The authors father was the first noted death, having been beaten, later dying at the hospital. By most accounts, he was a kind and fair correctional officer and was well liked by inmates. Thirty three inmates were killed in the retaking of the prison by law enforcement officials.

I cannot imagine my parent being killed in any way, and them yanking me out of class to tell me before sending me back. What the kids of these employees went through is gross. Of course, the state did all manner of underhanded things to avoid being sued or having to pay out very much money. The lack of information and cover up of the truth in regards to what the families knew is typical and revolting. There were a lot of lawsuits from former inmates and their families, which really touched some nerves of the correctional staff and their families. I can imagine that it would be difficult to be on one side of the issue and have to see it from the other side. The fact of the matter is, there was certainly mistreatment of inmates going on. There was certainly a right for them to seek better treatment, however, because of the riot, other people lost their lives. Families on both sides of this issue were traumatized, lost family members, dealt with major issues and comments, and were slighted by the state government. I am glad to see that efforts were made to release more information to those involved and admit wrongdoings.

I got this book on Audible as part of buy one get one for one credit sale day, so that was great. This was not one of my favorite books that I picked out for this month, however, as I knew nothing about Attica beyond that it was a prison that had a riot at some point, I did learn quite a lot about the events surrounding it. It also makes one take a forced look at treatment of prisoners and what kind of things were meant to be changed as a result of this riot. If you are interested in this particular event, this would be a good book for you. It contains a lot of information beyond the personal account of Deanne Quinn, whose father was the first to die.