Video: 'Attica Prison Riot - William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe . POV on PBS'

(Thursday, September 9, 1971, 8:50 a.m. EDT; during the Attica Prison riot) — An uprising of prisoners broke out at the maximum-security Attica Correctional Facility penitentiary near Buffalo in western New York this morning as a group of inmates on the 5 Gallery on cellblock “A” charged from the prison dining hall and overpowered guards who were attempting to stop them.

By noon, more than 1,281 out of the approximately 2,200 convicts had taken over the state prison and held 42 staff members hostage.

After four days, law enforcement officials stormed the facility on Sept. 13, 1971. Forty-three people were killed, including ten hostages, in what became the bloodiest prison riot in U.S. history.