Description

“These Criminals Have No Respect for Human Life”

Gilbert provides a first-hand account of a May 1990 disciplined and widely supported protest action at Attica over the killing of a black prisoner. The article also assesses changes in the values and attitudes of guards and prisoners at Attica since 1971. The author argues that “prisoners are less socially conscious and yet angrier.” Prisoner unity has suffered and the old inmate code proscribing snitching and predation is weak. The author points out that convict values reflect the individualism and hedonism of the Reagan-Bush era.

prison activism, prison riots, Attica

Citation: Social Justice Vol. 18, No. 3 (1991): 72-84