Doug Liman Blog: Research Visit With Geoffrey Fletcher to Attica Prison

Share on Facebook posted 01-20-10 by Doug Liman

Got up at 4:30 in the morning Wednesday to fly up to Attica prison for the day. Attica is famous for its fearsome reputation as one of the toughest prisons and for the uprising in 1971 in which the prisoners took over the prison, holding guards as hostages, for several days until Governor Rockefeller ordered the state troopers to retake the prison by force. It was the largest loss of life of Americans killing Americans since the Cvil War.

But Attica means something else to me. As a young lawyer, my father ran the investigation into the prison uprising. I grew up hearing the name Attica and seeing a hacksaw, with a note attached to it, always displayed in my father’s office. There was also a picture on our hallway wall of my father sitting in a prison mess hall with hundreds of inmates. It wasn’t until after my father’s death, when I read his autobiography, that I came to understand the significance of these symbols I grew up with.

After the uprising was put down, the inmates were weary of talking about the events — guards had been killed and no one wanted to add a murder charge to their records. My father’s job was not to prosecute; it was to find out the truth about what had actually occurred. He was fact-finding. But this white lawyer from New York City was going to have an uphill battle explaining the difference to the inmates.

On Christmas Eve of that year, my father traveled up to Attica and had dinner with the inmates, in an attempt to win their trust (the picture on our wall). Ultimately he succeeded, and his report is a riveting page-turner. But the people whose job it was to prosecute the crimes wanted my father to reveal who had admitted to what. When my father refused, they threatened to hold him in contempt of court and throw him in jail. The commissioners with whom my father had produced the report gave my father the hacksaw as an act of solidarity.

My father died in 1997. I had never visited Attica, never visited any maximum-security prison for that matter. In December, I set up a movie, based on my father’s report, with Geoffrey Fletcher, the screenwriter of the movie Precious, as the writer. So this morning when my alarm went off at 4:30, I knew I was in for an emotional day.

Fletch was not interested in AirDoug and had flown up on JetBlue the night before. That morning I flew two of the producers and the daughter of one of the producers up to Attica. The flight was dramatic, as it started in the pitch black of predawn, and ended with a snowstorm landing in Batavia (seems to be becoming a habit). The prison itself looks art-directed straight out of a movie. Built in 1929, it has a huge wall around it. It’s got turrets, and the buildings behind the wall are all brick, dramatic and looming.

The warden (now called a superintendent) took us around. Everyone at Attica has some connection to the uprising. The superintendent was only 19 when it took place, but his father and uncle were guards in the prison. It seemed like everyone we met had some family member who was involved. The tour was astounding. We followed the steps the prisoners took as they overwhelmed the guards, saw the radiators they ripped off the walls and the gates they smashed open with them. We saw the metal shop in which the guards followed the then standard operating procedure during a crisis and locked themselves inside, along with the hundred inmates who were working there. They suffered the most casualties. We left with so many stories, and names and contacts of people who were there to continue our research. Believe it or not, there are a few inmates in the prison today who were inmates in 1971.
I stood in the same dining room where my father sat with those inmates almost 40 years ago and I took my own picture.

The rioters never succeeded in taking over cellblock Z, where the most hardened criminals are kept in solitary confinement. Had they succeeded, the devil would really have been out of the bag. The “box” was not really a relevant part of our tour, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit to a morbid curiosity that drew me into that building. It did not disappoint.

This is how our guide put it: When you fuck up you go to prison, when you fuck up in prison they send you to Attica, and when you fuck up in Attica, they send you to cell block Z. Prisoners are only allowed out one at a time, they are let out one hour a day, and they must be shackled at all times when out of their cells. Up on the third floor a prisoner was about to be moved. In the rest of the prison, the inmates walk around lightly guarded, and the warden knew many of them by name and they all exchanged hello-how-are-yous. Not so in the “box.” It was like the movement of Hannibal Lecter, and we were ushered into a food-prep alcove until the inmate was clear. Everyone seemed scared of him.

While we waited in this alcove, there was an inmate worker scooping out rice methodically into Styrofoam trays to be delivered to the inmates. We hung out with this guy for several minutes, and it wasn’t until we were able to move on that our guide explained that the rice scooper was permanently in the box because he had killed and attempted to decapitate an inmate. He failed, he couldn’t get through the vertebrae, and he even warned the guards who saw him covered in blood “you don’t want to go in there” to spare them the gore of his botched decapitation attempt).

There was a small law library and I asked to take a look. Jackpot. Turns out Mark David Chapman (he murdered John Lennon and is Attica’s most famous current inmate) is the law clerk for the worst of the worst. It was like spotting the Pope when in Rome. I found myself a foot from him, he gave a kind of hello that I will never forget and one day will use in a movie. In that one small gesture was a lifetime of “Yes its me, the famous killer of John Lennon, you’ve seen me, you’ll have a great story to tell your friends, now fuck off and leave me in peace” all in one gesture and one hello.

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25 responses to Doug Liman Blog: Research Visit With Geoffrey Fletcher to Attica Prison

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ARS3NAL

Wow, I had to comment on this, its incredibly fascinating, they story of what your father did in that prison will most likely be very interesting to watch.

Pete142

Chilling ending there.

Hernando Bansuelo

I cannot wait for the movie!

richie

You were a foot from Mark David Chapman and didn’t knock him out? Shame!!

Astrolabe

I grew up in Attica and have looked far and wide for snippets, information, texts, and imagery of the riot, prison, and village. Many of these poignant and dreamlike personal images have stayed with me over the years: Guard’s, their families – things they shared – things the did’nt…The prison’s siren – its coded signals – a few kids at the middle/high school were told the codes by their fathers and knew there was a riot immediately. The village’s noontime & fire siren was the same note (F sharp?). Weeks after the riot women in the checkout at the Acme grocery, very near one of the sirens, broke into tears upon hearing it…The helicopter low over our backyard on the morning of the assault…The heavily bolted door leading to a tunnel in the basement of warden’s mansion – I saw it at a keg party at the mansion in ’79…Time magazine photos, especially the one of the woman in the scarf standing on the steps across from the Catholic church. I saw her for years as I walked to work, always in a scarf; Orthodox I imagine – she attended the six AM mass, daily…The prison’s graveyard, the “guard’s pool” swimming hole, the obstacle terrain in the woods around one side the prison, the officer’s homes just to the south…The old railroad spur that lead to the rear north wall…Finding nearly complete blueprints of the prison in a man’s trash after his death – we turned them in…propped on our bikes watching trustee work crews – those green trucks, Gub, the owner the Tipperary bar and that lonely phone booth there, guards at the Stage House bar on Fridays…Families of inmates that tried to move to Attica – they never stayed long…Folks removing the dealership nameplates from there cars because they drove into Buffalo or Rochester…Being kids we often gave misdirections to strangers that asked – We also flipped the bird to chartered visitor buses, all the time…A modest shank collection that a friend’s dad had mounted behind his bar…Playing touch-the-wall, only once- you hop out of the backseat of the car, run across the lawn, touch it, get back quick!…The way you could almost see over the wall from some roads to the west…The old woman from my Batavia Daily paper route, who had been married to a brick mason, that shared her scrapbook photos of the prison’s construction with me. There is so much – odd text, art, and political references I’ve happened across in libraries, prose and poetry out Univ. of Buffalo writing projects at the prison…Mr. Liman, I admire you. Break a leg!

michelle

WHAT was it like seeing mark chapman

John Boncore aka John Hill

Hi Doug,
You state that” After the uprising was put down, the inmates were weary of talking about the events — guards had been killed and no one wanted to add a murder charge to their records”.
For the record 11 guards died during the rebellion.
Charley Joe Pernasalice and I (John Hill) were charged with the death of William Quinn who died 2 days after the initial moments of the insurrection from allededly being beaten by a blunt weapon that was never produced during trial.
Time magazine reported that “unlike most murder charges the case of John Hill and Charles Pernasalice was berefit of evidence”.
The other 10 guards died on September the 13th, 1971 when New York State troopers and guards who brought weapons from their own homes stormed the prison on Govenor Nelson Rockefellors orders and killed a total of 39 people and wounded and maimed 80 people.
There was a second grand jury that was empaneled to bring murder charges against the police assault force until as Attica prosecutor Malcom bell stated in a 60 page report to the New York Times that Rockefellor had the prosecutorial staff suppress evidence to the grand jury in order to secure his bid for Vice president of the US under Gerald Ford.
Hugh Carey who succeeded Rockefellor as govenor ordered the closing of the books on Attica thus granting a blanket amnesty to the police force for blatant murder.
Lets hope you follow in your fathers footsteps and examine the whole truths surrounding this state sponsored coverup.
Respectfully submitted,
John Boncore aka John Hill
http://www.splittingthesky.net

Ricky Martin

Wow this is deep. I just got a message from my cousin on Facebook about this movie coming out so I did some searching because it hits home big time. My cousins and I all lived together for awhile in Brooklyn NY and remember quite vividly our Uncle dieing in the riot. I remember watching on tv as they sent in the troops then later at my uncle’s funeral standing with his son in front of the casket. My cousin was stone silent, because we grew up hard in the Brooklyn ghetto. I remember talking with him about killing Rockefeller. We were 14 and real aware of things. The irony is that he was going to be getting out in 7 days. The shot him in the groin while he lay on his bunk in his cell. WTF.
Since then we have all had rough lives, in and out of the joint and trying not to go back again. I wish I could have got a part in this movie. I hope it’s real and reflex the anguish of the families involve. We watched the names roll by on the screen on TV of the deceased and it felt like a dream, nightmare.
Thank you for doing this. My family is abuzz with chatter about what went on then. His name is (not was) Rutrell Martin. Peace to his soul, and thank you again.

Ricky Martin

Had to make a correction, his name is Giddel Martin, Rutrell is his brother my bad.

nate chapman

Glad Doug is working with Geoff! He’s a great writer!

handyman bristol

Yes,amazing,i have watched the film called attica,nice article,thanks

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Terry

yes the handyman bristol, I seen that movie amazing nice review and site
Terry

Team Panella

“I stood in the same dining room where my father sat with those inmates almost 40 years ago and I took my own picture.”

….wow…talk about a moving nostalgic experience!

– Team Panella

Devin Y. Scannura

Chilling and intense! I love your description of the one word ‘hello’ from Chapman.
As screwed up as these guys are, do you think there is any chance of them ever being normal or reprogrammed to get back to being functioning people?

http://reprogrammingmind.com

Alfredo

Sounds like it’s going to be an incredible film. Can’t wait to see it. When is it scheduled to be released?

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John

it must have been wierd sitting where your dad sat 40 years ago.
John

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c.m.

I cant wait to see what lies lye within your film….

c.m.

You dont even have it right…guards were not the only hostages killed that day. There were civilian hostages taken that day on the 9th also…they too were killed on the 13th…get it right…..

Jason Phimosis

I do remember watching that on TV in 1971 when Attica was overtaken by the prisoners. Its a scary thought when I look back.

Brian

Hi,
Very nice post. I like it.
I wait the movie.
Thank you
Sincerely

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Gene

Wow Doug, it sounds like your father was a real stand up guy. To take Christmas eve and spend it with the inmates says a lot about his character. I’m sure the tour you took really hit home.

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