Attica Lessons: Decarcerate During COVID-19

On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 incarcerated people seized control of the Attica Correctional Facility near Buffalo, New York to protest years of inhumane living conditions, including racial violence by staff, overcrowding, and lack of basic health care. This year marks the 49th anniversary of the Attica Prison Uprising, and it is a searing reminder of just how far we have yet to go in the struggle to uphold the basic rights and fundamental human dignity of incarcerated people.

Watch a special presentation as we reflect on the lessons learned from Attica in the present struggle for racial justice, health and safety in prisons and jails, and mass decarceration during COVID-19.

Presenters:

Jose Hamza Saldaña, Director of Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP Campaign, survived 38 years of imprisonment

Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy

Sharif A. Hameed, Survivor of the ’71 Attica Uprising and Massacre

Roslyn Smith, survived 39 years of imprisonment

Elizabeth Gaynes, President/CEO of the Osborne Association

Michelle Daniel, survived 20 years of imprisonment

Featuring poetry by formerly incarcerated activists, Shannon Battle and Gordon Davis, of the Free Minds Book Club

Moderator: Nicole D. Porter, Director of Advocacy at The Sentencing Project