18. Provide a complete Spanish library.
19. Educate all officers in the needs of inmates.
20. Institute a program for the employment of black and Spanish-speaking officers.
17. Institute a program for the recruitment and employment of a significant number of black and Spanish-speaking officers.
21. Establish an inmate grievance delegation comprised of one elected inmate from each company which is authorized to speak to the administration concerning grievances, and develop other procedures for community control of the institution.
18. Establish an inmate grievance commission comprised of one elected inmate from each company which is authorized to speak to the administration concerning grievances, and develop other procedures for inmate participation in the operation and decision-making processes of the institution.
22. Conduct a grand-jury investigation of the expropriation of inmate funds and the use of profits from the metal and other shops.
19. Investigate the alleged expropriation of inmate funds and the use of profits from the metal and other shops.
23. Cease administrative resentencing of inmates returned for parole violation.
20. The State Commissioner of Correctional Services will recommend that the penal law be changed to cease administrative resentencing of inmates returned for parole violation.
24. Conduct Menechino hearings in a fair manner.
21. Recommend that Menechino hearings be held promptly and fairly.20
25. Permit other inmates in C block and the box to join this group.
26. Arrange flights out of this country to nonimperialist nations for those inmates desiring to leave this country.
27. Remove inside walls, making one open yard and no more segregation or punishment.
28. Expansion of work-release programs.
22. Recommend necessary legislation and more adequate funds to expand work-release programs.
29. End approved lists for visiting and correspondence.
23. End approved lists for correspondence and visitors.
30. Remove screens in visitation rooms as soon as possible.
24. Remove visitation screens as soon as possible.
31. Institute parole violation changes—revocation of parole shall not be for vehicle and traffic violation.
25. Paroled inmates shall not be charged with parole violations for moving traffic violations or driving without a license, unconnected with any other crime.
32. Due process hearing for all disciplinary proceedings with 30-day maximum.
26. Institute a 30-day maximum for segregation arising out of any one offense. Every effort should be geared toward restoring the individual to regular housing as soon as possible, consistent with safety regulations.
33. Access to facility for outside dentists and doctors at inmates’ expense.
27. Permit access to outside dentists and doctors at the inmates’ own expense within the institution, where possible, and consistent with scheduling problems, medical diagnosis, and health needs.
28. It is expressly understood that members of the observers’ committee will be permitted into the Institution on a reasonable basis to determine whether all of the above provisions are being effectively carried out. If questions of adequacy are raised, the matter will be brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Correctional Services for clearance.
As the observers girded themselves to bring both this and the James document to the prisoners, Oswald reported to Rockefeller’s aides some good news: he now felt optimistic that a reasonable end to this ordeal was in sight. As he mulled things over from his family estate overlooking the Hudson River, Rockefeller, however, wasn’t so certain that Oswald’s view of things was realistic—especially given what he had heard from his right-hand man, Michael Whiteman. In fact, it seemed to Rockefeller that it was now time to assert much more gubernatorial control over the situation. So he decided to send another one of his closest aides, Robert Douglass, to Attica. From the moment he arrived on the scene on Saturday, the third day of the uprising, Douglass kept in constant touch with his boss.21 Douglass’s interpretation of the events there would have an immeasurable impact on how the governor reacted to, and made vital decisions about, the standoff.
On Saturday, Black Panther Bobby Seale also headed to Attica. The observers in the Steward’s Room were surprised to learn that Seale and his two bodyguards were en route to the prison. But the FBI was well informed of Seale’s itinerary. At 11:15 a.m. Saturday morning the San Francisco bureau of the FBI had notified the agencies in Buffalo, Albany, Chicago, and New York City that Seale would be arriving at the Buffalo airport at 4:53 p.m. on United flight #412.22 This despite the fact that Governor Rockefeller’s office had informed the New York bureau that “it would be better” if representatives from the Black Panther Party were not allowed to appear at Attica and that “if anything can be done to prevent their appearance, it is believed that this would help the situation.”23 But the San Francisco office had been unable to prevent Seale from traveling to Attica, and now it was up to Commissioner Oswald to decide whether to let him in.
Although he was pretty certain Oswald wouldn’t let Seale in, Herman Schwartz agreed to pick him up at the airport and drive him to Attica. Sure enough, Oswald wanted to bar Seale’s entry, and Schwartz found himself arguing passionately for the commissioner to change his mind—to no avail, it seemed. Oswald had already been leaned on by the governor’s men, Douglass, Hurd, and Shapiro, and he was loath to go against their wishes.24
What is more, Oswald feared that Seale would upset the progress that he felt had been made that day. The commissioner had also been hearing that “some sort of psychological deterioration [was] taking place” in the yard and in his view Seale’s presence could only make it worse.25 His concern was based on a report from Dr. Hanson, who, after returning from yet another medical visit to the yard, had stated his view that the men were becoming more anxious. As Hanson described it, “The prisoners were really uptight. I saw a number of people that had acute psychotic or hysterical reactions of various types. There was one husky one, one black male, that came up, and he was carrying a cross…and he was shouting about Black Power and about God and they were all going to die, and all sorts of gibberish.”26 The doctor also reported that he had come across “a couple of men that had sort of catatonic seizures, which is a hysterical reaction.”27
In delivering these reports, Dr. Hanson had no intention of encouraging the state to take a more hard-line position with the men in the yard. He had made it crystal clear to Oswald that he “felt very sorry for these people.”28 Indeed, positive news—clear evidence of the prisoners’ calm and humanity—had also been reported to the commissioner. Oswald had been informed by Hanson, for instance, that the prisoners willingly released another hostage (the CO who was Big Black’s friend) who was apparently having a heart attack.29 The doctor had also told Oswald that one of the hostages had slipped him a note to take out that said that they “hoped that every possible rebel demand would be granted” so that they could return home safely.30 As notably, the hostages had sent out a list of items they wanted, which specifically included supplies they “intended to share with our security guards…[because] they have been sharing a lot of things with us and we would like to share these things with them.”31
But prisoner acts of kindness barely registered with prison officials in this crisis situation, and Hanson had little control over how his words were interpreted. The doctor couldn’t have imagined that when he mentioned that the prisoners had constructed a platform over and around the negotiating table, Rockefeller’s men began fixating on the possibility that it was intended “to be a sacrificial altar and a hangman’s platform.”32 Everything they were told just made Oswald worry that his efforts to resolve this situation peacefully were failing and made Rockefeller’s people even more hostile toward the idea of continued negotiations.
And yet, despite the insistence of the governor’s office
that Seale not be allowed into the prison, Oswald began to think that it might be foolish to keep him out. Kunstler had expressed the view that this revered figure might actually be the one to persuade the men to accept the twenty-eight out of thirty-three points. This argument nagged at Oswald, particularly in light of the fact that the observers had already sent an emissary into No Man’s Land with the news that Seale would soon be there. Given that the men had been asking to see a member of the Black Panther Party since day one of the rebellion, it wouldn’t do for them to think that the state was refusing him entrance now. Getting Kunstler’s assurances that Seale would not make any inflammatory remarks, the commissioner grudgingly, and with great trepidation, called downstairs to tell the troopers at the entrance to let him in.
However, Seale had already left. Furious that he’d been left to sit in Schwartz’s car for over an hour while Oswald decided whether to admit him, he’d had Schwartz turn around to drive him back to the airport. Oswald had to send a New York state policeman to flag down Schwartz’s car and bring Seale back to Attica—a move that left the observers enjoying a much needed moment of levity. As Wicker marveled, “Oswald dispatched a State Police car to bring back the famous Panther leader, who probably never before had been pursued by policemen whose purpose was to ask him politely to please come help the authorities restore the peace.”33
But all merriment ended the moment the unsmiling Seale entered the Steward’s Room.
The first order of business was to get Seale’s response to the twenty-eight points. Silence fell over the room as his eyes scanned the pages. It did not take him long to say what many of the observers feared he might: in his view, the document didn’t say much. More to the point, it contained absolutely nothing about the biggest sticking point in the negotiations: amnesty.
Bobby Seale makes his way through the crowds outside Attica. (Courtesy of Corbis)
Into this discussion came some news that made clear to all assembled that this particular demand was now a must. William Quinn, the officer that had been taken to the hospital with severe head injuries, had just died.34
Attica superintendent Vincent Mancusi had learned of Quinn’s death at the same time that Robert Douglass was arriving at Attica, around 5:00 Saturday afternoon. Once he learned of this tragedy, Douglass grabbed the phone and called District Attorney James. It was imperative, Douglass told James, that the public not find out about Quinn’s death because it would harden both the observers’ and the prisoners’ insistence that criminal amnesty be granted.35 Despite Douglass’s wishes, news of Quinn’s death somehow got out. Not only did the observers hear about it as they began hashing things over with Bobby Seale up in the Steward’s Room, but word also reached, and seemed to electrify, the many hundreds of already agitated state troopers who had been waiting outside the prison, some since Thursday morning. For days now, the observers had been watching the troopers’ hot anger building, and the news of a CO’s death, combined with the presence of Bobby Seale, according to Tom Wicker “inflamed the troopers, deputies, and correction officers with more resentment and bitterness than they already felt.”36
The troopers’ fury was further fueled by the completely false version of Quinn’s death that had, within minutes, become gospel: that this CO had sustained the terrible injuries that killed him when prisoners had thrown him out of a second floor window onto his head. Both the Buffalo Evening News and The New York Times ran stories containing this false report.37 Rumors started flying that not only had Quinn been thrown to his death, but he may also have been castrated.38
Under these circumstances, it was clear that Bobby Seale could not endorse an agreement that did not include amnesty. All of the observers, even Herman Badillo, who had been arguing that they could surely work out an agreement short of amnesty, now saw that without the legal protection of amnesty, the men in D Yard would be in grave danger. Maybe worse, as he put it, the prisoners would now likely “find themselves at the mercy of furious correction officers once everybody else had gone away” and thus they also needed “unbreakable assurances against reprisals.”39
Even if the state were to grant amnesty, Seale, as it turned out, had no intention of either endorsing or rejecting anything crafted by its officials. As he explained it, he alone could not endorse anything—only the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party had the power to do that. He would therefore leave in order to consult with that body.
Stunned by the idea that Seale might leave before going to see any of the prisoners, the observers begged him to go into the yard, if only for a brief meeting.40 One of the observers tried to impress upon him how important a visit was by handing Seale a note that had been given to him in the yard a few hours earlier: “Brother Bobby…Our lives are in your hands—Come! Attica prisoners.”41 To everyone’s surprise, however, Seale glanced at it only cursorily before tossing it onto a table dismissively, like a used napkin. Nevertheless, he finally, reluctantly, agreed to make a brief visit inside. Tom Wicker felt disgusted by the whole scene as the group made their way down to the A Gate. In his view, Seale’s “absorption in an abstract if genuine cause had dulled in him the sense of humanity that first had drawn him to the cause.”42
By now it had been a full sixteen hours since anyone from the administration or the observers committee had visited the yard. From Richard Clark’s vantage point, state officials had been “stalling” all day. He had “kept going back and forth to the gate for word, but there was nothing.”43 Such lapses in communication always made the men in D Yard anxious. This day’s delays had left even Roger Champen, usually one of the calmest men in the yard, on edge. To make things worse, the troopers posted on the rooftops had been taunting and jeering them for hours. Finally, though, the men got word that famed Black Panther leader Bobby Seale was on his way to speak to them. Many of the prisoners deeply admired “what Bobby stood for,” and felt that his ferocity would make him a powerful advocate on their behalf.44 As they prepared for what was to be the eighth visit of outsiders into the yard on this third day of the uprising, expectations were high.
As the observers made their way to the negotiating table this time, there was little trace of the ebullient mood of Thursday or Friday night. Even the sight of Bobby Seale generated much less excitement than anyone imagined it would. In part this was due to Seale’s own lack of enthusiasm. Although he gave the Black Panther salute and yelled “Power to the People,” he did so without much energy or conviction and, in turn, he received only a tepid welcome—quite a contrast to the standing cheers that Senator John Dunne and William Kunstler had received only the night before. This was worrisome to the observers. They were all counting on Seale to get a “tremendous ovation,” which would help pave the way for giving the men in D Yard the two documents they had to decide upon.45
Not only was Seale’s arrival shockingly “anticlimactic,” but he then proceeded to give only a very brief speech.46 In that speech he laid blame on the commissioner for delaying him and then told the men that Oswald had tried to make his entry conditional upon his directing the men to surrender.47 This statement was patently untrue, but it did rile up some indignation, as he hoped it would.48 They need not worry, Seale went on, because he was not going to do that. In fact, he wasn’t going to make any judgment at all on what they should do. Instead he was going to leave to talk things over with Huey Newton and the Central Committee, and would return to report on their response the following morning. He then got up and started walking out of the yard.
The men in D Yard couldn’t believe that Seale had only just arrived and was now leaving. They were clearly upset that he had given them so little time and none of his perspective. It was “very disappointing,” Champ explained. “We had looked for a person [who] related to what was going on. And then he appeared very nervous…very apprehensive….You really can’t conclude anything in that short period of time, especially something of that magnitude. So, when he left…it was followed by disappointment.”49
As Seal
e strode toward the exit Herman Badillo asked Wicker worriedly, “Aren’t we all going out the way we promised? Isn’t that the arrangement, that we all go out together?”50 They had indeed made a commitment to Oswald that they would all leave together, and Wicker agreed that it was best to do so. John Dunne, sitting nearby, didn’t even need to be asked. He had been in plenty of prisons in his life, and he could see that Seale’s abrupt departure had made the situation in this one unstable.
Seeing that the other observers were also making moves to leave, even the usually mild-mannered Champ exclaimed angrily, “I don’t understand!”51 Over in the hostage circle, CO John Stockholm thought he understood just fine. His take on what he’d just seen was that “Bobby Seale was scared to death, couldn’t get out of there fast enough,” and now the observers were nervous too.52
Clarence Jones quickly jumped in to try to calm the situation down. He explained that the men were not being abandoned. The observers were leaving them with the fruits of their hard labor—two documents that they thought would meet most of their demands.53 But nothing Jones said could stem the waves of disappointment crashing over D Yard. Deep down the men didn’t really believe that Bobby Seale or anyone else was coming back.
And, indeed, when the observers who’d followed Seale out of the yard arrived on the state side of the A Block gate, many of them had already decided, as had State Senator John Dunne, that they were not going back in.54 Oswald couldn’t imagine why they were back so quickly, and he was alarmed that the group had split up. Dunne assured Oswald that it was fine and to be patient; it was good that nine of the observers had decided to stay in the yard to make sure the prisoners were given the James letter along with the list of demands that Oswald had agreed to. Also, Dunne explained, Seale was now going to consult with Huey Newton about a possible Panther endorsement. The Black Panther leader had assured the prisoners that he would relay Newton’s position to them personally the next morning at 7:00. Somewhat appeased, Oswald nodded and bade farewell to Seale with a heartfelt handshake, murmuring his thanks that he had come to help. Then, seeing how furious state troopers were that Seale was anywhere near Attica, the commissioner again made arrangements for him to have a police escort for his own protection when he left.
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