Attica Riot Victims Will Get $8 Million

Nearly 30 years after the deadly Attica prison riots, $8 million in settlement checks are on their way to hundreds of inmates injured in the uprising. Federal officials said that checks ranging from $6,500 to $125,000, depending on the severity of the injuries, had been mailed to 502 inmates or their surviving relatives. Thirty-two inmates and 11 prison employees died in the 1971 uprising, all but four shot to death when state police retook the prison near Buffalo. In their civil suit, surviving inmates claimed they were brutally beaten by authorities after the prison’s retaking. New York state in January agreed to pay the inmates $8 million and their lawyers $4 million in fees, although it denied any wrongdoing. The original 1974 class-action lawsuit sought $100 million in damages.