The Nation: War at Attica: Was There No Other Way?

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fatigue and delay often break down the prisoners' cohesion and will to resist. A prolonged stalemate endured in a wet, garbage-strewn yard and with inadequate food and water might have discouraged the rebels and convinced them that they must accept the Oswald concessions or seek some other face-saving out.

WAS THE ASSAULT TACTICALLY SOUND? Only investigations will reveal just how it was executed, but the plan was obviously risky. Radio communications indicated that the observers were not certain precisely where many of the hostages were being held. Because of the rain and the clouds of gas, visibility for sharpshooters was poor. Had the gas been as effective as expected, so much shooting would not have been necessary. Officers were proud that 28 hostages had been saved—but it was not at all clear whether this was because the attack was successful or because the convicts, in the showdown, made no effort to kill their captives.

Many of the rebels, of course, were in prison for violent and ugly crimes; many were there for lesser offenses. Yet by and large, at Attica they were treated without distinction, as numbers or niggers or animals to be caged. Most penologists point out that the key to dealing with inmates is to know them—and their leaders—well. In the end, the major failure at Attica may be that the authorities simply did not know what the desperate men behind their walls really wanted, thought or felt. Until the uprising became another symbol of America's many agonies, all too few seemed to care —at Attica or elsewhere.