Stono's Rebellion: The Cause Of Violence In Prisons

Thousands upon thousands of children are born into this world each and every day. Many of these children, as they grow up, will not think about the significance of their date of birth. While it may seem that not every day has something significant, after research a different conclusion might be made. If this research is conducted based on past events in history, everyone can find interesting events that have occurred on their birthdays tieing the events together with a significant connection. One of these days that a child was born, September 9th, stands out a as day in history with abounding accounts of violence including Stono’s Rebellion, the Attica Prison Riot, and the murders of eight Syrian soldiers during the Arab Spring.
On September
In 1971 the Attica Prison, located near Buffalo, New York, erupted into a riot (“Riot at Attica Prison”). Many of the inmates at the correctional facility had strong emotions about the treatment they and others were receiving at this prison. Physical brutality, lack of medical treatment, and poor sanitation were just a few points of interest the inmates wanted to see change (Berman). On the morning of September 9, a minimal amount of prisoners overpowered guards and seized control of a prison gallery (“Riot at Attica Prison”). After access was granted to this prison gallery, the prisoners were able to access all areas of the correctional facility. It was at this time all 2,200 prisoners went into a rebellion, brutally destroying the facility. However, by 10:30 a.m., state police with the help of the National Guard regained control of most of the prison without any lives lost (“Riot at Attica Prison”). The only area remaining to regain control of was the D yard, and in an attempt to do just that, state police, as well as the national guard, tear-gassed everyone located inside this area (Berman). Frank Smith, an inmate who resumed the job of a guard during the prison riot was in yard D at the time of this occurrence. “The first thing I seen and hear was a helicopter circling over the yard, you know, and then gas, and then a loudspeaker, ‘Put your hand on your head and you won't be harmed,’” Frank Smith recounts in a interview with PBS (Douglass). The information Frank Smith provided at that time helped the citizens, who were not present at the time of the riot, to fully understand the events that had taken place. After state officials agreed to the inmates demands, they regained control of the correctional facility returning the prison to normal. The Attica Prison Riot signifies the worst prison riot in the United States history with 43 people left dead (“Riot at Attica