This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Ps suit sued various state and federal officers (D) after the prisoner revolt at and subsequent recapture of Attica in September 1971, which resulted in the killing of 32 inmates and the wounding of many others. Ps claimed that the inmates were intentionally subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment prior to the inmate riot, that Officers intentionally killed some of the inmate victims without provocation, that state officers assaulted and beat prisoners after the prison had been successfully retaken and the prisoners had surrendered, that personal property of the inmates was thereafter stolen or destroyed, and that medical assistance was maliciously denied to over 400 inmates wounded during the recovery of the prison. Ps also charged a failure of state officials to prosecute the offenses allegedly committed by the state officers. Ps requested relief in the nature of mandamus requiring a plan for the independent and impartial investigation and prosecution of the offenses and to require the United States Attorney to investigate, arrest and prosecute the same state officers for having committed the federal offenses defined by 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242. Federal jurisdiction over the claim against the state defendants was based on 42 U.S.C. §1983 and 28 U.S.C. §1343(3) and over the claim against the United States Attorney on the mandamus statute. The motions of the federal and state defendants to dismiss the complaint for failure to state claims upon which relief can be granted, Rule 12(b)(6), F.R.Civ.P., were granted.

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