ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York judge approved public disclosure Thursday of two remaining volumes from an investigation into the 1971 Attica prison riot and aftermath, but he excluded grand jury excerpts.
Justice Patrick NeMoyer said it’s now up to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has the 1975 Meyer Commission report, to publicly release those volumes after removing evidence from grand jury investigations.
‘‘It is certainly the case that . . . the grand jury references in question constitute an integral part of the report’s text and help form the basis of Meyer’s findings,’’ NeMoyer wrote. ‘‘Those observations, however, do not by themselves override the law’s general policy of preserving grand jury secrecy.’’
Schneiderman had sought court permission to reveal the fuller history of the nation’s bloodiest prison rebellion, including the investigations that followed, and answer the questions of families whose loved ones died. The panel investigated whether there were coverups by investigators of wrongdoing by authorities.
In all, 11 staff and 32 inmates were killed — all but four shot by state police and corrections officers retaking the prison.
NeMoyer wrote that it’s up to Schneiderman whether to also remove names and identifying information that might identify grand jury witnesses and targets.
About 33,000 pages of grand jury transcripts were generated by the Attica investigation and reviewed by the commission. The 570-page report was divided into volumes.