The Prison Guard's Daughter

On the 50th anniversary of Americas deadliest prison riot comes a prison-guard daughters quest to uncover the truth about her fathers murder during the uprisinga story of crossing racial divides, befriending inmates and correctional officers alike, and challenging the state to reveal and pay for its malfeasance. Deanne Quinn Miller was five years old when her fatherWilliam Billy Quinnwas murdered in the first minutes of the Attica Prison Riot, the only corrections officer to die at the hands of inmates. But how did he die? Who were the killers? Those questions haunted Dee and wreaked havoc on her psyche for thirty years. Finally, when she joined the Forgotten Victims of Attica, she began to find answers. This began the process of bringing closure not only for herself but for the other victims families, the former prisoners she met, and all of those who perished on September 13, 1971the day of the retaking, when New York State troopers and corrections officers at the Attica Correctional facility slaughtered twenty-nine rioting prisoners and ten hostages in a hail of gunfire. In The Prison Guards Daughter, Dee brings readers in on her lifelong mission for the truth and justice for the Attica survivors and the families of the men who lost their lives. But the real win was the journey that crossed racial and criminal-justice divides: befriending infamous Attica prisoner Frank Big Black Smith, meeting Richard Clark and other inmates who tried to carry her father to safety after his beating, and learning what life was like for all of the peopleprisoners and prison employees alikeinside Attica. As Miller lays bare the truth about her fathers death, the world inside Attica, and the states reckless raid and coverup, she conveys a narrative of compassionate humanity and a call for prison reform.