[1] The morning of March 14, 1973, the prison officers (guards) of Walpole's day shift called in sick, beginning a walkout action.
[6] The striking prison officers had intended the walkout to call negative attention to the policies Boone's administration.
Boone, in turn, anticipated the walkout to backfire and break the officers' union that blocked his prison reform plans.
Following an election in which 87 percent of the 540 inmates supported the union, they became a chapter of the National Prisoner Reform Association (NPRA).
He immediately instituted a series of security measures including halting the prison's visitor and furlough programs, increasing internal patrols, and conducting background checks on civilian observers.
[4] The strike is commonly regarded as either a failure of custodial control, for lack of adequate resourcing, or a radical experiment in participatory democracy.