I, in the public know what all school children learn, those to whom evil is done, do evil

in return.

It's a poem titled September 1st, 1939 by WHO Auden.

At 1.40am, on February 2nd, 1980, a group of inmates at the New Mexico State Penitentiary

attacked three guards during their nightly count.

What followed was one of the deadliest prison riots in U.S. history, and definitely the

most horrific.

One can angry inmates seized the prison and 36 hours of hell on Earth followed.

Twelve guards were taken hostage, 33 inmates were killed, and over 200 people were raped.

Inmates were lit on fire, beheaded, and brutally tortured.

When it was all over, everyone wanted to know what led to such carnage.

What created such extreme feelings of rage and frustration within some of the inmates

at the New Mexico State Penitentiary?

The answer was a buildup of problematic legislation, the led to terrible prison conditions, overcrowding,

murder staffing, and inmate abuse in the years leading up to the right.

By the late 1970s, the New Mexico State Penitentiary was one of the worst in the U.S.

It was filthy, grossly overcrowded, lacked education, and work opportunities for inmates

looking to better their lives, and many of the guards horribly abused the inmates they

were in charge of.

And then the prison's most brutal inmates were able to abuse other inmates further, worse

than anyone, thanks to not nearly enough guards and to violent prisoners being housed in

the same poorly supervised dorms as non-violent inmates.

...