Forty years after the death of her father, Dee Quinn Miller came face to face with his killer.
The reason for the grim reunion was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the inmate uprising at Attica State Penitentiary.
Teresa A. Miller, associate professor of law, founded the 40 Years after the Attica Uprising: Looking Back, Moving Forward conference "to promote healing some of the wounds that the uprising and its aftermath inflicted."
Former prisoners, legislators, policy makers, activists, and corrections professionals gathered Sept. 12-13 to speak at the conference presented by the UB Law School and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy.
Among those who presented was Miller, whose father – William Quinn – was killed when the prison was taken over.
John Dacajaweiah was the man responsible for Quinn's death during the riots. He attended the conference with Chuck Culhane, co-chairperson of the Erie County Prisoners' Right Coalition.
Culhane, who spent 32 years in prison, thought the conference was very emotional, and offered a unique opportunity to both Miller and Dacajaweiah.
"I want John to sit down with Dee," Culhane said. "It seems like a historic opportunity for reconciliation. If people aren't reconciled after 40 years, it may never happen."
On the first day of the conference, Culhane asked Dee if she was willing to forgive the person who killed her father. She said she would have to think about it, Culhane said.
Teresa Miller focused on bringing together eyewitnesses and prison experts to discuss the uprising and necessary improvements to the prison system. She hopes the conference helped chart pathways to much needed reforms.
Conditions in Attica prison now seem to mirror what they were prior to the uprising, according to Teresa Miller.
"One [reform] would be to improve the racial balance of correctional officers to inmates at Attica, because it's not that different than from 40 years ago," Teresa said. "Another would be to bring back educational opportunities and programs that have been kind of decreased over the years."
Teresa's other main goal for the conference was to provide education to the public, especially those who only grew up hearing about the riot without living through it.
Matthew Sweet, a sophomore political science major, agrees with Teresa's outlook.
"The whole Attica Conference is illuminating on the tragic event that happened," Sweet said. "It's useful to look back at something like this because you can clearly see how events unfolded and how things went terribly wrong."
Teresa hopes the public gained a better understanding of the complexity and enormity of the event; the public holds a very important role in making sure prisons are humane institutions, she said.
"There are long festering divisions of people on different ideological sides that the conference is there to heal," Teresa Miller said.
Culhane felt that Teresa put together a wonderful and powerful event. He hopes the people affected by the uprising can embrace the past and look toward to the future.
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Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
