State takes back public access to Attica materials
Paul Grondahl
Albany
State Museum and State Archives officials rescinded an earlier directive and denied public access to hundreds of objects collected after the Attica prison uprising in September 1971, including makeshift weapons, handwritten letters, clothing and personal effects from inmates and correction officers.
The five-day insurrection left 32 prisoners and 11 prison employee hostages dead, along with nearly 100 more seriously injured. It was the worst prison riot in U.S. history and remains a dark, unresolved chapter in the state's past.
"This is ridiculous. We want to see all the objects, all the material, all of it," said Dee Quinn Miller, whose father, William Quinn, was a correction officer killed during the uprising. Miller is a member of the Forgotten Victims of Attica, a group of prison employees who survived the inmate rebellion and the recapture of the prison, as well as relatives of those who were killed. The group for many years has urged the state to release all records related to Attica.
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/State-officials-rescind-public-access-to-Attica-5475897.php
