35 YEARS AFTER ATTICA, PRISONS ARE STILL A CRIME

This month marks the 35th anniversary of the inmate uprising and
massacre at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
Sadly, 31/2 decades after the bloodiest prison uprising in U.S.
history, the problems of prisoner abuse and mistreatment that led to
the uprising are still all too common.

On Sept. 9, 1971, Attica's 1,281 inmates - predominantly black and
Latino - gained control of the prison. This was after prison
officials ignored their requests for better living conditions,
showers, educational instruction and vocational training. Inmates in
Attica faced overcrowding, racist treatment from white prison guards
and such indignities as one shower a week and one roll of toilet paper a month.

After an impasse following four days of negotiations, New York Gov.
Nelson Rockefeller decided as "a matter of principle" to take the
prison by force. The governor sent more than 500 troopers with
helicopters, tear gas, shotguns and a barrage of 2,200 bullets. The
troops killed inmates and hostages alike. In the end, 43 people were
killed (including 10 hostages) and 90 were wounded.

After the retaking of Attica, guards sought severe reprisals against
the inmates. Guards tortured some inmates and denied medical
treatment to others who had sustained wounds. Guards forced prisoners
to run down a catwalk and beat them with what they called their
"n----- sticks."

Fast forward to 2006: Torture and abuse remain a reality in U.S. prisons.

According to Amnesty International, "thousands of prisoners are held
in supermax facilities in long-term solitary confinement under
conditions which may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment."

The human rights organization also condemns as a violation of
international law a number of other disturbing practices in U.S.
prisons, including the more than 2,000 child offenders serving life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole; unsupervised access
of male guards to female prisoners, resulting in sexual abuse; the
shackling of pregnant women detainees during labor; and the use of
electroshock weapons such as tasers.

Our prisons have become overcrowded partly as a result of a "tough on
crime" and "lock 'em up" mentality, the abandonment of prisoner
rehabilitation, and the severe sentencing brought on by the failed
war on drugs.

There are more than 2.2 million incarcerated people in the United
States, mostly poor and of color. America incarcerates more people
per capita than any other country.

In June 2006, the Vera Institute of Justice's Commission on Safety
and Abuse in America's Prisons, a nonpartisan think tank, identified
a wide range of problems. These include a lack of prison oversight
and accountability, medical neglect of inmates, prison violence and
inappropriate segregation in high-security units and supermax prisons.

The commission recommended a variety of reforms, including
reinvestment in prison programs, extending Medicaid and Medicare
reimbursement to prisons, better training of corrections officers,
and standardized reporting nationwide on prison violence and abuse.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2003 that the nation's prisons have
become a repository for the mentally ill. As many as 300,000
prisoners are mentally ill and face inhumane conditions such as lack
of treatment, abuse by prison staff, denial of water and confinement
in filthy cells.

Some believe that prisoners deserve whatever they get. But we all
have rights as human beings. The abuse of prisoners is a human rights
violation, a constitutional violation and a threat to us all. We lose
our soul as we dehumanize prisoners.

Thirty-five years after Attica, America's abuse of prisoners remains shameful.

David A. Love is a lawyer and writer based in Philadelphia. This was
written for Progressive Media Project and distributed by
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.