1942 Riot

     At Eastern State during the 1940s, there was a cutback of food items at the penitentiary, some of which included sugar and coffee. Because of these reductions, some of the inmates, one of which was Joseph Anncenski, started to protest the sugar and coffee cuts (see image below). During the meal periods, Anncenski and others implemented their own form of a hunger strike by refusing to eat anything, but coffee. When the demands were not met, mattresses were set afire and the riot began. Because of the weather, heavy rain drove the smoke down the ventilation shaft to where Anncenski was, thereby asphyxiating him. In addition to Anncenski, two more were overcome by the fire and one was killed during the riot.

     Up until this point, most of the riots discussed have focused on causes of tensions because of institutional problems and external influences. In this riot, a primary cause was from the actions of an individual, reflecting the spontaneity model of prison riots. But how did Anncenski come to be the person he was in 1942? In a comparison of Anncenski and Earl Ward from Assignment: Prison Riots, multiple similarities come up, including: multiple accounts of crime beforehand and various forms of trouble from very young ages.
     Although the 1950s started to witness the ultimate decline of Eastern State, the decades before showed that the decay of Eastern State was gradual and that there were multiple opportunities to solve the problems, but not enough was done. Overall, based on the examination of riots at Eastern State, riots come in different shapes and sizes. Although food can be a cause for some riots, it is certainly not the only cause. From this analysis, two questions arise. How can riots be solved/ dealt with? And how is food affecting prisons today?