PRISONS: Tragedy Averted

There was an ominous familiarity about the uprising in the maximum-security state prison at Rahway, N.J. Remember Attica, scrawled on a sheet fluttering from a cellblock window, was hardly necessary. However, 24 hours after Rahway inmates had seized four guards and the warden as hostages, the rebellion ended peacefully. At Attica, 43 inmates and hostages died during an assault on the prisoners' stronghold; after a negotiated settlement, the hostages at Rahway were released and prisoners returned quietly to their cells.

Throughout the fearful day, New Jersey officials and inmates alike gradually abandoned hard-line demands in favor of safety and compromise....