Authorities quell inmate riot at Kentucky prison

[JDD]

Authorities quell inmate riot at Kentucky prison

(CNN) -- Authorities regained control of a Kentucky prison early Saturday after inmates torched buildings, shattered windows and threw rocks at guards.

Inmates set fire to a Kentucky prison on Friday after the warden said he would ease restrictions on a lockdown.

Inmates at the medium-security Northpoint Training Center in Burgin started an uprising shortly after the warden announced he'd ease restrictions on a lockdown, Northpoint Public Information Officer Mendalyn Cochran told CNN.

Two inmates were transported to hospitals with chest pains, she said, and there were no reports of hostages taken.

The lockdown was instituted Tuesday, after about 10 to 15 inmates assaulted two others in a fight over stolen property, Cochran said.

Warden Steve Haney told prisoners about 6 p.m. Friday of his plan to ease the lockdown, but 30 minutes later, fires began to spread through the dorm-styled institution, she said.

Inmates were evacuated to the prison yard and authorities threw tear gas over the fence to subdue the prisoners, Cochran said.

The damage to the facility was so severe that all the prison's 1,200 inmates had to be kept outside in a prison yard.

"There are several buildings in the front that will be a total loss," said Lt. David Jude of Kentucky State Police.

An investigation will determine whether criminal charges will be levied against some of the inmates.

Burgin is about 40 miles southwest of Lexington.

[Whiskey Runner]

4 Ky. inmates still hospitalized after prison riot
(AP) – 10 hours ago

BURGIN, Ky. — Four prisoners remained hospitalized and hundreds of others had to be relocated Saturday after rioting inmates set their central Kentucky prison on fire.

Flames shot into the air during the melee Friday night, seriously damaging several buildings, and parts of the medium-security Northpoint Training Center continued to smolder nearly 24 hours later.

The 500 inmates who remained at the prison 30 miles south of Lexington were being compliant, said Jennifer Brislin, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

About 700 others were being taken to other facilities across the state. In some cases that meant inmates were double-bunking or sleeping in gyms or other secure buildings inside prisons.

Officials would not say what caused the rioting, which injured eight staff members and eight prisoners. None of the injured staffers were hospitalized, said Cheryl Million, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Corrections. Authorities would not provide conditions for the inmates still being treated.

Those who remained at Northpoint were getting food and medical care from temporary stations because the fire destroyed six buildings, including a kitchen, medical center, canteen and visitation area. They were to be moved into a 196-bed dormitory that remained habitable, as well as a unit of single cells.

The disturbance started Friday evening when prisoners set fire to trash cans and other items inside and outside the prison. All fires were contained by 4 p.m. EDT Saturday, Brislin said.

Officers in riot gear had rushed in with tear gas about 9 p.m. Friday, and all the inmates were subdued within two hours, authorities said.

Gov. Steve Beshear praised corrections officials and state police for handling the situation without any serious injuries.

"Their work last night in the face of the most trying circumstances was truly remarkable," Beshear said in a statement Saturday.

Local and state police formed a perimeter around the outside of the facility to make sure no one escaped.

Prison spokeswoman Mendalyn Cochran had told The Advocate-Messenger of Danville the facility had been on lockdown since Tuesday, when a group of inmates assaulted two others.

Million would only say that some inmates had access to matches because smoking is allowed in parts of the prison.

The union representing employees at the prison — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Kentucky — said in a release Saturday that the disturbance could have been worse.

The union said the prison lacked essential equipment such as working radios and flexible handcuffs.

The melee came two weeks after more than 1,000 inmates rioted at the California Institution for Men in Southern California. The prison was designed to hold about half as many inmates, although investigators say they don't know if crowding helped spark the racially charged riot.

Northpoint had more than 1,100 general population inmates housed in six open-bay dormitories, according to its Web site. Another 60 special management inmates were housed in single cells in a separate structure, and 40 minimum-security inmates in another separate structure.

It opened in 1983 and has a staff of 285.

[CC]

State: Northpoint will be rebuilt
By DAVID BROCK
[e-mail]
August 25, 2009


After assessing the scorched facilities Monday at Northpoint Training Center, state officials indicated the prison will be rebuilt.

“We need this in the system,” said J. Michael Brown, secretary of the state Justice and Public Safety Department.

Brown said it will take months before things get back to normal at the prison, but that two of the six dormitories that are now uninhabitable could be reopened for inmates by the end of this week.

Currently only one of the six dorms, which can accommodate about 196 people, is housing inmates, with about 300 others staying in the prison chapel and gym.

Brown, who monitored Friday’s riot from a command center in Frankfort, and Department of Corrections Commissioner Ladonna Thompson surveyed the damage by helicopter and walked the grounds Monday afternoon.

Insurance adjusters also continued work on site Monday to determine the extent of the damage and how much of the loss will be covered. While some of the dormitories escaped serious fire damage, Brown said many were completely trashed during the riots, with windows smashed and pipes ripped from walls leaving several inches of standing water.

Brown would not speculate on the cost of repairing the facility but said insurance would likely cover a portion of the construction.

Northpoint will continue to operate

Brown, who said he had lobbied recently for a $14.7-million renovation to the original state hospital building on the site, believes the facility can continue to function for the time being, even with much of the infrastructure gutted by fire and vandalism.

“There are some buildings that we won’t be able to use for their intended uses,” Brown said. “But we have Aramark coming in to set up a temporary feeding facility and buildings like the prison industries that can be used for medical review.”

One thing that will change, at least temporarily, is the prison’s smoking policy. Thompson said prisoners currently are not allowed to have matches, and Brown said the policy will be reviewed at the state level.

Some programs, including education, will be suspended for the time being. Parole hearings have been moved to Marion Adjustment Center, Brown said.

Brown said the largest number of inmates, about 200, have been moved to the Marion Adjustment Center, while others have been taken to both private and state run prisons.

The families of prisoners are supposed to be able to locate their loved ones by today through the state Corrections Web site.

Prison public information officer Mendalyn Cochran said inmates who remained on the yard have been cooperative since Saturday.

[KY Press]

Prison Riot Is Attributed to Lockdown

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 21, 2009
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Despite previous assertions, investigators said Friday that bad food was not the primary cause of a riot at a central Kentucky prison.

The inmates at Northpoint Training Center were instead reacting to a partial lockdown and to planned restrictions on their movement, investigators said in a 22-page report released Friday.

On Aug. 21, prisoners started fires in trash cans at Northpoint, a medium-security facility near Burgin, about 30 miles south of Lexington. The fires spread, seriously damaging several buildings.

Officers in riot gear rushed in with tear gas, and all inmates were subdued within two hours. Eight inmates were taken to hospitals, and eight prison workers were treated at the scene.

The damage to the prison, which opened in 1983, was so severe that about 700 inmates had to be transferred to other prisons around the state.

A corrections officer, Matt Hughes, told lawmakers this month that he believed that inmates had rioted because they were upset over the quality and quantity of food rations. But investigators said in the report that interviews with the inmates determined that there was a general concern about the quality of food and the prices of canteen items,but most inmates said neither was a primary cause of the disturbance.

Investigators said the prison was put under partial lockdown after a fight, involving weapons, between about 10 Hispanic inmates and two others, one black and one white, who had stolen canteen items from one of the Hispanic prisoners.