TIME's James Willwerth, who covered the riot, returned to assess conditions today. His report:
ON the surface, Attica has changed. A new superintendent, Ernest L. Montanye, a beefy former guard, is trying to make the prison an easier place to do time. The screens in the visiting room are gone, and visitors now include friends and common-law wives. Prison officials still read inmates' mail, but they have relaxed the censorship of newspapers and magazines. Other improvements include an inmate-administration "liaison" committee, a second shower a week, soft drinks and health foods in the commissary, an orientation course for new prisoners, the hiring...