Report to the UN Torture Committee on US practices [Amnesty International] News
Report to the UN Torture Committee on US practices [Amnesty International]

Supplementary Briefing to the UN Committee Against Torture, Amnesty Intrenational, May 3, 2006 [report detailing widespread torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners at US detention sites around the world and at facilities in the United States, saying that the US is "creating a climate in which torture and other ill-treatment can flourish — including by trying to narrow the definition of torture"]. Read the full text of the report. Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Attica NY prison revolt ended in assault killing 41

On September 13, 1971, National Guardsmen stormed the Attica Correctional Facility in New York state after a four-day standoff with rioting prisoners. This photo, released by New York state authorities, shows Corrections Commissioner Russell Oswald in the Attica prison yard after it was retaken.

Thirty-two prisoners and nine guards died in the final assault. Learn more about the Attica revolt and the conditions the prisoners were trying to have improved in this retrospective.

Khrushchev takes over leadership of USSR

On September 13, 1953, Nikita Khrushchev was appointed General Secretary of the USSR Communist Party, taking over leadership of the country after the death of Joseph Stalin. Soon after taking office, Khrushchev exposed many of the crimes of his predecessor. He was later forced from power in 1964, largely in response to his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Read an obituary of Nikita Khrushchev from the New York Times.