Herbert W. Jones Jr. was a 26-year-old industrial account clerk at Attica Correctional Facility when he became one of the hostages during the September 9, 1971 inmate takeover. For four days inmates held 42 staff members, including Jones, while pressing demands over living conditions and amnesty from prosecution.

On the morning of September 13, 1971, state troopers and corrections officers moved to retake the prison under orders from Governor Nelson Rockefeller. During the assault, helicopters dropped tear gas and law enforcement fired on the yard. Jones was struck in the head by a .270 caliber bullet fired by a state trooper and died instantly; autopsy findings showed all 10 hostages who died that day were killed by gunfire from state forces rather than by throat slittings reported initially by authorities.

Jones’s widow, Lynda, later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the State of New York as part of broader legal action over the retaking and its aftermath. No specific individual was ever charged with his death. Does anyone have additional documentation or memories related to Herbert Jones or the events at Attica in September 1971?