ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A federal judge has determined how an $8 million settlement will be divided among inmates caught in the deadly 1971 Attica prison riots.
The 502 former inmates or their families are to receive anywhere from $6,500 to $125,000 from the settlement plan devised by U.S. District Judge Michael Telesca and announced Monday.
In earlier agreeing to settle the 26-year-old lawsuit, the state admitted no wrongdoing and agreed to pay the inmates $8 million and their lawyers $4 million in fees. The original class-action lawsuit in 1974 sought $100 million in damages.
Inmates took over parts of the state prison in western New York on Sept. 9, 1971. A standoff ended four days later when state police launched an all-out assault on orders from then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.