Summary

As elated as former prisoners were at the 2000 ruling for their restitutions, surviving hostages and the families of slain hostages were equally outraged at the state’s ignorance to their suffering. The announcement of the decision to compensate the prisoners prompted a radio station in Batavia, twelve miles from Attica, to host a live radio show inside an Attica café inviting the surviving hostages and families of dead hostages to share their reactions to the settlement. Almost two-hundred people showed up to the café, which marked one of the first times in thirty years that survivors and families discussed their experiences after Attica. The group was divided in its opinion of the prisoners’ settlement and of the way the state handled the retaking, but they were unified in their sense of betrayal at the hands of the state for the lack of...