×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
Attica Justice -- Served 26 Years Later
Loaded on Nov. 15, 1997
published in Prison Legal News
November, 1997, page 19
The old Italian proverb postulates that "revenge is a dish best served cold." Justice is a dish also usually served cold, although those with a taste for justice rarely prefer it so. Maybe somebody should ask Frank Smith.Twenty-six years after Smith was beaten and tortured in an orgy of …
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- Private Transportation Firms Take Prisoners for a Ride, by Alex Friedmann
- Escaped Prisoner Rides into Sunset
- Tensions Rise in Ohio Prisons
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Notes from the Unrepenitentiary, by Laura Whitehorn
- Oklahoma Pulls Out of TX Rent-A-Jail
- DOJ to Probe Texas Rent-A-Jail
- 'Training Video' Reveals Beatings in Texas Rent-A-Jail
- ACLU and PLN Challenge Washington DOC Censorship
- Alive Today! Death Row Calling U.S.A.
- Texas Parole Case Reversed
- PLN Editor Settles Retaliation Suit
- Ohio Prison Doctor Liable in Asthma Death
- Detention and Corrections CaseLaw Catalog, by Paul Wright
- Criminal Practice Handbook, by Paul Wright
- Restoring Justice, by Dan Pens
- Civil Disabilities of Convicted Felon: A State-by-State Survey, by Jon Marc Taylor
- Texas Mandatory Release Statute Creates Liberty Interest
- A Matter of Fact
- NM Prisoners Refuse to Break Rocks
- BOP Sentence Reductions Cannot Be Denied Retroactively
- Former Prison Security Chief Convicted, by Julia Lutsky
- Attention Foreign Nationals, by A.I.C.A.P.
- Prisoner Literacy Obscure & Outdated, by Laura Whitehorn
- Sewing Our Own Destruction, by Ray Luc Levasseur
- Prisoner Calls Big Business in CA, by D.R.
- Trailers for Tana, by Art Longworth
- Electronic Guards of the Future?, by B.S.
- Exiled From Idaho, by D.M.
- Media Allowed Access to CA Executions
- PLRA Exhaustion Requirement Jurisdictional
- 3rd Cir. Applies 'Imminent Danger' Exception to PLRA 3 Strikes
- Factual Findings Required in 8th Amendment Suit
- Attica Justice -- Served 26 Years Later
- Fear Alone Doesn't Violate Eighth Amendment: No Immunity for Retaliation
- Pepper Spray Uprising in Arkansas
- Washington Officials Liable for Seizing Court Tape
- Fourth Amendment Forbids Taping of Jail Confession to Clergy
- News in Brief
More from these topics:
- Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical, May 1, 2026. Staffing, Sanitation, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Consent Decrees, Bail/Pretrial Release.
- Six Maryland Guards Convicted in Prisoner’s Beating, Cover-up; § 1983 Suit Filed, May 1, 2026. Guard Brutality/Beatings, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Obstruction of Justice, Wrongful Use of Force, Evidence - Destruction/Fabrication/Manipulation of.
- Judge Denies New York Prison Chief’s Motion to be Dismissed from Case Related to Robert Brooks’ Murder, May 1, 2026. Work Strikes, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Failure to Train/Supervise, Police--Excessive Force, Deliberate Indifference.
- Sixth Circuit Revives Michigan Prisoner’s Challenge to Guard Tackle That Broke His Foot, March 1, 2026. Evidentiary Ruling (Disciplinary Hearings), Guard Brutality/Beatings, Summary Judgment, Qualified Immunity, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Ninth Circuit Reinstates Wheelchair-Bound Washington State Prisoner’s Suit Over Failure to Accommodate Disabilities During Transport, Feb. 1, 2026. Transportation, Excessive Force, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Deliberate Indifference.
- Differing Judicial Outcomes for the New York Guards Who Killed Robert Brooks, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Pending Appeal/Sentencing.
- The New York Prison System’s Culture of Cruelty and Impunity, Feb. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Racial Discrimination, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Restraints, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death).
- $404,000 Verdict for Ohio Prisoner Brutalized by Trio of Guards, Kept in Solitary for Two Years, Jan. 1, 2026. Retaliation for Filing Grievances, Retaliatory Segregation, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement.
- Sixth Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity for Michigan Jailer Accused of Retaliatory Assault, Jan. 1, 2026. Retaliation, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Qualified Immunity, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Deliberate Indifference.
- One Guard Pleads Guilty, Another Receives Light Sentence in New York Prisoner’s Killing, Dec. 1, 2025. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death), Obstruction of Justice, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.

