John Monteleone was 41 and working as an Industrial Training Supervisor at Attica Correctional Facility when he was taken hostage during the prison uprising that began September 9, 1971. The standoff ended on September 13, 1971, when state police retook the prison by force. Law enforcement gunfire in that assault killed 29 inmates and 10 hostages, including Monteleone.

Initial official statements blamed inmates for the hostages’ deaths, but subsequent autopsies showed all 10 hostages died from police gunfire. Investigations and later research identified specific troopers and guards believed to have fatally shot hostages; one report linked a .44 Magnum rifle used in a killing to a prison guard. No arrest or murder charge was ever brought in Monteleone’s death, and efforts to indict troopers on murder or manslaughter charges were unsuccessful.

The Monteleone family joined other victims’ families in long legal battles; in 2005 the state settled with a group representing surviving staff and families for $12 million. Does anyone have further information about John Monteleone’s life at Attica or contacts who might have known him?