From: The Gate 
Subject: Uprisings/riots and a lockdown (fwd)
Message-ID: 
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 03:32:09 -0400 (EDT)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 21 Oct 1995 19:50:10 -0700
From: Prison Activist Resource Center 
Subject: Uprisings/riots and a lockdown

There have been several uprisings in the last couple of days, and the
Justice Dept./B.O.P has put everyone on lockdown.  We're trying to get
a more grassroots scoop on this, but here's what the mainstream press
had to say about it (paraphrased from Reuters):

    WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice has confined most federal
prisoners to their cells after a series of riots in four prisons over
the past two days.

   The Justice Department's Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a
statment late Friday that stated: ``Until this period of unrest has
been resolved, this precaution was believed to be necessary in the
interest of public safety, and to insure the safety of staff and
inmates,''

    In Memphis, Tennessee, it took firefighters until early Saturday
morning to put out fires that first started in three housing units of
the Federal Correctional Institution early afternoon Friday, fire and
prison officials said.

    About 50 guards and prisoners were treated for smoke inhalation,
according to fire department official Bill Adelman. He said repairing
the physical damage may cost as much as $5 million, according to
initial, unconfirmed estimates.

    ``There was quite a large volume of fire and smoke on the inside
of the building,'' he said, adding that mattresses and clothing had
been piled up and set on fire. ``These buildings were very heavily
damaged and will probably have to be torn down.''

    Early Saturday, officials still had not regained control over the
entire federal prison in Greenville, Illinois, where another riot
occurred Friday, CNN reported. The riot started when prisoners took
over most of an accommodation and others refused to return to their
cells, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

    After the Greenville riot began some staffers barricaded
themselves inside for self-protection and were rescued by police.
Several people were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital and
released, a duty nurse said.

    The Memphis riot began Friday afternoon when prisoners broke
windows and vandalized a work building as others set fires, the Bureau
of Prisons said. At least three inmates involved in the incident were
still in the hospital early Saturday, medical officials said.

    Because the fires burned housing units of the 900-inmate Memphis
prison, authorities were holding prisoners in a gymnasium and other
public areas as they assessed the damage, according to prison
spokesman Greg Bogdan.

    ``What we're trying to do is decide whether we have enough space
at the institution or exactly how we're going to go ahead and house
these inmates,'' he said.

    On Thursday, there were also prison riots in Talladega, Alabama,
and Allenwood, Pennsylvania, authorities said.

    In Alabama, at least 12 guards and inmates were injured after a
fight between prisoners in the yard of a maximum-security area evening
degenerated into a riot when guards moved to try to break them up.

    ``It was like a war zone,'' Larry Vincent, a firefighter injured
in the riot, told CNN. ``There were gunshots going off and some
explosions going and and you had helicopters overhead.''

    Federal officials would not comment on the possible cause of the
riots, saying the matter was under investigation.

    The cell confinement order will affect inmates in about 70 of the
nation's 80 federal prisons, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons
spokesman Shelley Witenstein.

   Federal prisoners typically spend most of their waking hours in
public areas alongside other prisoners, either working or attend
classes for seven and a half hours a day, eating in a large mess hall,
or relaxing in yards or other areas, prison officials say.

    Until the ``locking down'' order is rescinded, federal prisoners -
- whose crimes range from bank robberies to kidnapping and drug
dealing across state lines -- will interact only with their cell
mates.

--------
that's where the capitalist press left off.  now, who out there has
any details on demands, current status, anything?  please send to us
at PARC or to the list.

fight the power!
eli for PARC and the Prison Issues Desk

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