Attica Correctional Facility

Attica Correctional Facility

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Location	639 Exchange Street Attica, New York
Status	Operational
Security class	Maximum
Capacity	2253[1]
Opened	1931
Managed by	New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum security campus New York State prison in the town of Attica, New York,^[2][3] operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. It was constructed in the 1930s and held many of the most dangerous criminals of the time. A CS gas system (chlorobenzylidine malononitrile) installed in the mess hall and industry areas has been used to quell conflicts in these areas. The prison now holds many inmates who are serving various types of sentences (short-term to life), and who are usually sent to the facility because of disciplinary problems in other facilities.^[4]

Riots[]

Attica was the site of a prison riot in 1971 that resulted in 43 deaths, of which 33 were convicts and ten were correctional officers and civilian employees.

Notable inmates[]

• David Berkowitz, better known as Son of Sam, serial killer who confessed to killing six people and wounding several others in New York City during the late 1970s. Since becoming a Christian, Berkowitz has stated he does not want to be paroled and should pay for the sins he has committed. Berkowitz is now housed at Shawangunk Correctional Facility.
• H. Rap Brown, Black Panther Party leader, served a sentence in Attica from 1971 to 1976.
• Jimmy Caci, a captain in the Los Angeles crime family spent eight years in Attica during the 1970s for armed robbery.
• Mark David Chapman, who pleaded guilty to murdering John Lennon in 1980. Chapman was sentenced to 20 years-to-life and has been denied parole eleven times amid campaigns against his release. Chapman is now housed at Wende Correctional Facility.
• Joseph Christopher, American serial killer who gained infamy for a series of murders in the early 1980s in Buffalo, Manhattan, and Rochester. Housed in Attica in 1985. He died in March 1993.
• Edward Cummiskey, Westies hitman during the 1970s.
• Valentino Dixon^[5] was found to be innocent and was released in 2018, after 27 years of incarceration, when another man confessed to the murder of which Dixon was convicted.^[6][7]
• Dean Faiello, unlicensed physician who was charged in the manslaughter of Filipina-American banker Maria Cruz in 2003.
• Colin Ferguson, who murdered six people on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in a racist attack in 1993. Ferguson was sentenced to multiple life sentences. Ferguson is now housed at Upstate Correctional Facility.^[8]
• Kendall Francois, who murdered eight women and stored their bodies in his home in Poughkeepsie, New York. Francois, who was serving a life sentence without parole, died in September 2014.
• , the Italian mob "fall guy" was sent to Attica in 1940 and sentenced to 12–25 years for grand larceny.^{[citation needed]}
• Sam Melville, notorious as "mad bomber" in 1960s, a Weather Underground member killed by New York State Police troopers during the Attica Prison riot of September 13, 1971.^[9]
• El Sayyid Nosair, 1993 World Trade Center bombing terrorist was housed in Attica for a short duration related to the Assassination of Meir Kahane in 1990.
• Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, convicted murderer who led one of the largest manhunts in New York state history.
• Joseph 'Mad Dog' Sullivan, the only man who has ever escaped the prison.^[10]
• Joel Rifkin, serial killer, spent more than four years in solitary confinement before being transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Clinton County.
• Willie Sutton, who robbed 100 banks from the late 1920s to 1952.
• David Sweat, who killed a Broome County deputy sheriff in 2002 and escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility in 2015, was rehoused in Attica in 2017.
• , member of the Trinitarios, a Bronx street gang involved in the Murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz.

Notes[]

Further reading[]

• Thompson, Heather Ann (23 August 2016). BLOOD in the WATER : The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Vintage Books ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 9780375423222.
• Robbins, Tom; D’Avolio, Lauren (March 2, 2015). "3 Attica Guards Resign in Deal to Avoid Jail". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2018.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Attica Correctional Facility.

• NYS prison information

Coordinates: 42°51.0′N 78°16.3′W / 42.8500°N 78.2717°W / 42.8500; -78.2717