Prison Hostage. The Siege of the Walls Prison in Huntsville, Texas

Gripping first-person account of an 11-day takeover behind the walls of the Texas state prison in Huntsville in summer, 1974. Three inmates seized control of the school-library complex and took eleven prison employees hostage. It was the longest recorded instance of prison inmates holding hostages, and ended in death for several of the hostages and two of the inmates. At the time, the author was a correctional educator, and in his final year of education and training as a criminologist, and at the time was aware that few, if any, professional students of crime had the opportunity to observe a criminal event from within, from start to finish. He tried at every opportunity to study what they said, did, and how they did it. Includes illustrations.