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| N.M. prisoners set fires, flood prison housing area |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/27/2001 |
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Officers fired tear gas early Friday to quell a disturbance by 63 inmates who trashed a Western New Mexico Correctional Facility housing unit, authorities said. 'We have a group of disrupting inmates who refused to go back to their cells,' said Gerges Scott, state Corrections Department spokesman. 'They were just congregating in the common area. They were doing what's called flooding and burning - causing little floods from toilets and starting small fires,' he said. The Corrections Department called in additional tactical units, including from the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility at Los Lunas, Scott said. The tear gas was fired before dawn in the prison near Grants, and then officers were handcuffing the inmates and removing them individually from the housing unit, which is designed to hold 72 inmates, he said. 'We have it under control,' Scott said. 'There were no injuries to staff, no injuries to inmates.' State police sent 10 or 11 officers, who were standing by outside the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility if needed, officers said. The Corrections Department was investigating to determine the cause of the disturbance, Scott said. The inmates involved in the melee were either medium security or minimum restrict - a step above minimum security, he said. The prison, which holds about 450 inmates, was locked down - inmates were confined to their cells, Scott said. The uprising came days after a protest by 655 federal inmates at the nearby privately run Cibola County Corrections Center. They spent about 12 hours hanging out in a recreation yard Monday before authorities lobbed in tear gas that evening. Officers handcuffed the inmates and returned them to their cells. |
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