Documenting the Walpole Prison Takeover (March-May, 1973)
In the wake of Attica: Rally at Walpole, September 29, 1971 (Boston Public Library, Brearley Collection: Digital Commonwealth)
Walpole Prison 1973 Digital Archive
This public history archival project documents events at Walpole Prison in the early 1970s, in particular how the prisoners’ labor union (the National Prisoners Reform Association, or NPRA) assumed leadership over the prison in spring of 1973.
Organizing after Attica: The NPRA and BANTU
Following the 1971 prison uprising and massacre at Attica, New York, the people incarcerated at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute - Walpole staged peaceful protests in solidarity with Attica’s prisoners and demanded administrative change. This fight to change the prison system evolved, leading those at Walpole to form two organizations. One was Black African Nations Toward Unity (BANTU)—a cultural, educational, and political organization focused on teaching Black history and fostering Black consciousness and solidarity. The other was a chapter of the National Prisoners Reform Association (NPRA), a union advocating for the incarcerated through a labor-rights framework. Replacing the Walpole Inmate Council, the NPRA (Walpole Chapter) sought to represent their constituents as workers whose labor was as essential to running the institution as that of the unionized guards. Though separate organizations, there was much overlap in the leadership of BANTU and the NPRA, and their strategies were mutually informed by the other’s goals and programming.
The Ad Hoc Committee
Both of these organizations in Walpole received crucial support from outside allies, in particular the Ad Hoc Committee, a community-based group that, at the NPRA's request, ran am observer program that brought volunteers into the prison to open Walpole up to public view. The observer reports written by these volunteers, as well as other Ad Hoc Committee records are a crucial part of this digital archive, as this was the group that preserve the documents we can access today.
The NPRA Takes Over Walpole
When Walpole’s correctional officers’ union at Walpole went on strike in March of 1973, the NPRA took charge of the institution. From March to May of 1973, the prisoners ran Walpole. Rather than plunging the prison into chaos, the NPRA takeover brought improved living conditions that many witnesses recall as an overwhelming atmosphere of calm. Through the NPRA, the men at Walpole engaged in a historic act of self-determination. Theirs is a story of incarcerated labor organizing, interracial solidarity, the limits of prison reform, and the possibilities of prison abolition.
What's in the archive
The Walpole Prison 1973 Digital Archive seeks to preserve and make public the stories of those involved in Walpole’s transformation, providing evidence of the capacity for leadership and self-determination among incarcerated people. This website is also intended as a resource for researchers, students, organizers, and the general public to learn about Walpole in 1973, and the many individuals a groups that made these events happen. The digitized files, which were retained by outside supporters, include correspondence between key players, NPRA meeting agendas, and observer reports from civilians within Walpole. Unfortunately, the NPRA files housed within Walpole itself were lost during and after the police raid that ended the takeover.
We welcome feedback on our Contact page. The creation of this archive is a collaborative effort driven largely by the labor of students at Harvard University. Elements of consideration in the archive’s development include: the ethics of publicizing individual prisoners’ names, organization of files to streamline usability, and the development of collections/exhibits to showcase narratives from the archive. This archive continues to grow as new materials are scanned and added—the digitization of the archive remains a work in progress.