By C1 Staff
ALBANY, NY — Families of those killed during the uprising in 1971 at Attica will have a chance to reclaim objects recovered after bodies were removed from the bloody prison field, through the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
A topic of contention for 43 years, over 400 objects including blood-caked clothing, handwritten letters, eyeglasses and watches will be returned to the families, if they want them, according to the Times Union.
The DOCCS says they have a program in place to contact families and return the items in question.
The items have been shuffled from place to place over the years, never examined and once almost destroyed before a State Museum curator recognized their value.
Advocacy groups have urged the state to release all records and items from the uprising for years and are happy with what DOCCS is currently doing.
An additional 1,700 items that range from baseball bats to makeshift weapons, as well as dozens of boxes of books and printed materials stored at the State Archives, are expected to be available to the public again in coming months.