NEW YORK — Incarcerated author Rashon Venable says the brutal culture he witnessed at Attica Correctional Facility ultimately pushed him toward a drastically different path — one of nonviolence. His reflection, published Aug. 8, 2025, in The Marshall Project, describes how years in one of the nation’s most infamous prisons led him to reject the violence that surrounded him.
According to Venable, in May, New York State Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III sent him a memo urging prisoners to observe seven days of peace in honor of the Alternatives to Violence program’s 50th anniversary. The program, known as AVP, was introduced at Green Haven prison in response to the 1971 Attica rebellion, which claimed the lives of 43 inmates and staff members.
“When you grow up in a culture of violence, that doesn’t just disappear,” Venable said. “We, as prisoners, have to take active steps toward rehabilitation.”
Venable writes about his arrival at Attica in May 2018 to serve a 19-year-to-life sentence. He describes a correctional setting where violence was treated as routine. According to his account, violent outbursts were so severe that alarms would sound, prisoners were ordered to lie on the ground for long periods, officers carried weapons, and prisoners were kept in segregation.
“I watched a man pummel another prisoner on the ground … this was the longest beating I had ever witnessed,” he wrote.
Venable places his personal transformation in a broader historical context, noting that Attica’s violent reputation has deep roots. The 1971 rebellion ended after a four-day standoff when law enforcement forcibly retook the facility, killing 10 correctional officers and 29 inmates. The incident sparked national discussions about prison reform and cemented Attica’s status as one of the most unstable prisons in the United States, according to The Marshall Project.
He said many of the same systemic problems — overcrowding, excessive use of force, and a lack of rehabilitative programming — persist decades later. Without staff intervention or mediation, he wrote, even minor disputes between prisoners could escalate quickly. The Alternatives to Violence program, which offers conflict resolution workshops led by trained incarcerated facilitators, remains a rare effort to address those dynamics directly.
Venable said such programs are essential for equipping participants with skills to de-escalate conflict and foster communication, especially in environments where violence has long been normalized.
In April 2021, Venable was involved in a physical altercation that escalated abruptly from a disagreement with another prisoner. He wrote that he was overcome with shame and “felt like an animal” afterward. That incident, according to the article, sparked deep introspection and a vow “never to commit violence again unless in self-defense.” He credits journaling and his Muslim faith as crucial tools for managing his anger.
According to The Marshall Project, Venable was transferred out of Attica in December 2021 to less volatile facilities after the infraction, which was later dismissed on a technicality.
“Since leaving Attica … I’ve seen much less violence,” he wrote. “Every day, I think back to the person that I used to be and strive for something better.”
