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American Experience

Attica Prison Riot

Robert Douglass served as Counsel and later Secretary to Governor Nelson Rockefeller from 1965-1972. He was sent to Attica during the uprising to represent the Governor and to help quell the riot and appease the inmates. Frank Smith was an inmate at the prison and acted as a guard during the uprising, trying to assure that none of the officials sent in to negotiate with the prisoners were harmed.