Did you agree with the Governor's decision to go in?

Robert Douglass: And then the next day, the coroner from, I think, Monroe County said, "Well, you know, these, these injuries, even to the hostages, came from ricocheted gunfire." And it didn't come from, from being shot by inmates, or hacked to death, or stabbed, they were really injured in the, in the melee that took place when the State Police had to fire within these confined walls.

And then I think the press had already run with the story, that it had been successful, that there'd been loss of life but it worked pretty well. And then when it turned out that most of the deaths had occurred not at the hands of the inmates but ricochet fire, there was a sudden 180-degree shift, and all of a sudden the police had used excessive power, they stripped the inmates down before they let them back into their cells, which they had to do anyway because a lot of them had concealed weapons. There wasn't enough medical care available instantly.

And, and of course the whole thing turned. The press kind of fed on it, and turned what I think today might have been regarded as a reasonably successful effort to put down a terrible prison riot into a bit of a nightmare for the Governor.

But he, he never had any regrets about his decision not to go there. He honestly believed that was not the right thing to do, that you can't let somebody take a hostage under threat of death and stop all government and bring it to its knees. And I believe that as well. So I've never had any regrets about involvement in it. I feel sorry about the people who lost their lives, obviously.