Research

Administrative History

The Special Commission on Attica (chaired by Robert B. McKay and known as the "McKay Commission") investigated the Attica Correctional Facility riot of 1971. Commission members were appointed by the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, but the commission received its investigative powers from the Governor under the "Moreland Act" (Executive Law Section 6). The commission conducted numerous interviews and public and private hearings, and obtained information from almost everyone involved in the riot, from inmates to Governor Nelson Rockefeller, himself. The commission's final report contains a detailed account of the riot, as well as an analysis of prison administration and conditions prior to the riot.