Archives for Westchester County Jail Riot of 1981

The Westchester County Jail Riots of 1981

Thursday, July 8th 7:00–8:00 p.m. Click here to register. Jails and prisons that offer little in the way of rehabilitation. Drug laws that unfairly target people of color. These conditions plague today’s criminal justice system. Forty years ago, they were also the focus of complaints by Westchester County Jail inmates, leading them to stage an unprecedented uprising. Seth Kershner, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts, discusses the July 1981 uprising at Westchester County Jail–three riots in three days that caused one million dollars in damage. Although inmates hoped to amplify complaints about racism in the county’s criminal justice system,
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