September 9, 1971, the Attica Prison riot erupts, with irate prisoners taking over the facility, holding thirty-three correction officers hostage. The inmates protest the inhuman treatment of many prisoners, but the riots are also directly sparked by the shooting of George Jackson, a black radical prisoner who tried to escape from San Quentin in late August of the same year….
I was going to post something snarky about Richard Pryor’s Prison skit, and then I read about the riot. The prisoners may not have been good people, but the authorities’ actions were inexcusable. Maybe we need arguments between flawed parties to force society to update the definition of fairness.
Source: i12bent
