Edward T. Cunningham, a 52-year-old Corrections Sergeant with 22 years’ service, was killed on September 13, 1971 during the violent end of the Attica Prison riot in Attica, New York. He was among several correctional officers taken hostage when inmates seized control of the facility four days earlier in a protest over living conditions. The prison was retaken in a chaotic assault by state troopers and correctional officers.

Although state officials initially reported that hostages had been killed by inmates, subsequent autopsies showed Sergeant Cunningham and other hostages died of gunshot wounds inflicted by the law enforcement officers who stormed the prison. The riot claimed 43 lives in total, including correctional staff and inmates. No individuals were ever charged specifically for Cunningham’s death; later legal and political actions included a 1976 pardon of several inmates convicted for crimes during the riot and blanket immunity granted to the officers involved in the retaking. The state later reached settlements with families of deceased officers and with surviving inmates.