In 1980, the Santa Fe Penitentiary erupted into the bloodiest, most savage prison riot in U.S. history ... Horror still dominates the prison where brutal convicts continue a murderous rampage, killing witnesses to their earlier drug-induced atrocities. What caused the 1980 prison nightmare? Can nothing stop the inmates' savagery?

Lucasville tells the story of one of the longest prison uprisings in U.S. history. At the maximum-security Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, prisoners seized a major area of the prison on Easter Sunday, 1993. More than 400 prisoners held L block for eleven days. Nine prisoners alleged to have been informants, or “snitches,” and one hostage correctional officer, were murdered. There was a negotiated surrender. Thereafter, almost wholly on the basis of testimony by prisoner informants who received deals in exchange, five spokespersons or leaders were tried and sentenced to death, and more than a dozen others received long sentences. Lucasville examines the causes of the disturbance, what happened during the eleven days, and the fairness of the trials. Particular emphasis is placed on the interracial character of the action, as evidenced in the slogans that were found painted on walls after the surrender: “Black and White Together,” “Convict Unity,” and “Convict Race.” An eloquent Foreword by Mumia Abu-Jamal underlines these themes. He states, as does the book, that the men later sentenced to death “sought to minimize violence, and indeed, according to substantial evidence, saved the lives of several men, prisoner and guard alike.” Of the five men, three black and two white, who were sentenced to death, Mumia declares, “They rose above their status as prisoners, and became, for a few days in April 1993, what rebels in Attica had demanded a generation before them: men. As such, they did not betray each other; they did not dishonor each other; they reached beyond their prison ‘tribes’ to reach commonality.”

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • The definitive history of the infamous 1971 Attica Prison uprising, the state's violent response, and the victim's decades-long quest for justice. • Thompson served as the Historical Consultant on the Academy Award-nominated documentary feature ATTICA “Gripping ... deals with racial conflict, mass incarceration, police brutality and dissembling politicians ... Makes us understand why this one group of prisoners [rebelled], and how many others shared the cost.” —The New York Times On September 9, 1971, nearly 1,300 prisoners took over the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York to protest years of mistreatment. Holding guards and civilian employees hostage, the prisoners negotiated with officials for improved conditions during the four long days and nights that followed. On September 13, the state abruptly sent hundreds of heavily armed troopers and correction officers to retake the prison by force. Their gunfire killed thirty-nine men—hostages as well as prisoners—and severely wounded more than one hundred others. In the ensuing hours, weeks, and months, troopers and officers brutally retaliated against the prisoners. And, ultimately, New York State authorities prosecuted only the prisoners, never once bringing charges against the officials involved in the retaking and its aftermath and neglecting to provide support to the survivors and the families of the men who had been killed. Drawing from more than a decade of extensive research, historian Heather Ann Thompson sheds new light on every aspect of the uprising and its legacy, giving voice to all those who took part in this forty-five-year fight for justice: prisoners, former hostages, families of the victims, lawyers and judges, and state officials and members of law enforcement. Blood in the Water is the searing and indelible account of one of the most important civil rights stories of the last century. (With black-and-white photos throughout)

The book uses eight diverse case studies of prison riots to explore how the outcomes were affected by policies, procedures, management, communications, and strategy immediately before, during, and after the riot. Exploring the results achieved by negotiation, by force, and by simply waiting, the authors illuminate the factors most important in controlling the costs of damage and human suffering that can result from increasingly common prison disturbances.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the riot by inmates, hostages, and state officials *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "If we can't live as men, we sure as hell can die as men." - A prisoner in Attica In 1971, America was still undergoing plenty of social turmoil, much of it the result of sweeping changes made via the Civil Rights Movement of the previous decade and the Vietnam War, which helped spark the counterculture. Students had been shot at Kent State by the National Guard the year before, and protests were still prominent across the country. One of the movements galvanized during this time was on behalf of the nation's prisoners, who were often subjected to shoddy treatment in state penitentiaries and subjected to racist treatment, but that was naturally on the backburner for most Americans who remained free until the notorious Attica State Prison riot from September 9-13, 1971. The unfolding drama, during which over 2,000 prison inmates began an uprising inside the well-fortified facility and held dozens of staff hostage, transfixed America until the insurrection was violently put down and over 40 were dead. In the wake of the riot, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who had ordered the rebellion put down, accused the prisoners of committing "the cold-blood killings they had threatened from the outset," but others saw it from a far different perspective. While the New York Times characterized it in a more evenhanded fashion and bemoaned the "mass deaths that four days of taut negotiations had sought to avert," the prisoners were often portrayed as taking a heroic and righteous stand against the system. Perhaps the most famous representation of the riot was its commemoration in John Lennon's "Attica State," during which he sang, "We're all mates with Attica State." To this day, nearly 45 years later, the riot continues to be controversial. The Attica Prison Riot: The History and Legacy of America's Most Famous Prison Uprising chronicles the fateful chain of events that led to the most notorious prison insurrection in American history. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Attica like never before, in no time at all.

Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era