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| Prison's violent past includes 1993 riot |
| By argusleader.com |
| Published: 04/13/2011 |
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Ronald E. Johnson is the third corrections worker killed by inmates in the South Dakota State Penitentiary's 130-year history and the first since 1951. The 63-year-old corrections officer died at a hospital about noon Tuesday after he was assaulted during a failed escape by inmates Rodney Berget and Eric Robert. The penitentiary, which houses the state's maximum-security inmates, has seen intermittent violence through the years, including the 1936 murder of the prison's warden. According to the Department of Corrections, two inmates used guns smuggled into the prison to take 72-year-old Warden Eugene Reiley hostage on March 6, 1936. The men stole several guns from the armory and engaged police in a shootout several miles from the prison; Reiley and one of the inmates were killed in the shootout. On Sept. 6, 1951, an inmate serving a life sentence for the murder of his sister-in-law used a baseball bat to kill corrections officer Edward Jaworski. Corrections spokesman Michael Winder said those three are the only corrections staff members to die at the hands of inmates. Although no one died, a May 1993 riot might have had the most significant effect on safety measures at the prison. The riot involved 223 inmates, some of whom were armed with golf clubs and set fire to buildings. Only three inmates were prosecuted, but the event sparked several changes that gave corrections officers more tools to protect themselves and maintain order. The Corrections Department spent $3 million on repairs and security upgrades, revised policies to combat contraband, created a special response team for dangerous situations and replaced Warden Walt Leapley with Joe Glass, who would be tougher on inmates. Read More. |
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