Second riot breaks out at Texas prison

[Adsos Letter]

(CNN) -- Thousands of inmates rioted at the Reeves County Detention Center in Texas on Saturday, the second disturbance at the prison facility in the last two months.

As many as 2,080 inmates from two of the center's three buildings began fighting in the prison yard about 5:30 p.m. ET, said county Sheriff's Office Dispatcher Anna Granado.

Officials do not know what prompted the riots. It was also not immediately clear whether the fighting resulted in injuries.

Authorities from several law enforcement agencies responded to quell the violence, Granado said.

On December 12, inmates took two workers hostage and set fire to the recreation area at the center in Pecos, located about 430 miles west of Dallas.

The inmates, who had made several demands, surrendered later that night.

The prison is a 980-bed, low-security facility, operated by Geo Group Inc. It houses federal prisoners as well as inmates from other states

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/01/texas.prison.riot/index.html?eref=rss_us

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this story gets me to thinking again about the debate over privately run vs. governmentally run prison facilities.

[ColbertWatcher]

1. How long before a GOP pundint blames it on the Katrina transplants? n/t

[Hannah Bell]

2. my guess - staffing & other cuts.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Of course, but YOU'RE thinking rationally.

I don't expect that from the GOP pundints.

[Hannah Bell]

5. i'm thinking rationally? jeez, couple other people told me i was a

conspiracy theorist ruled by my envy of concentrated wealth.

you're very kind, i feel much better now.

the gop pundits get paid to lie. but you knew that. :>)

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Yes, I do know that, which is why I call them pundints.

Now that I think about it, I can't remember who pronounced it wrong.

It might have been Palin.

[Hannah Bell]

9. here i thought it was a typo.

[ColbertWatcher]

18. Nah.

You know, I don't get why people call having the ability to recognize disparity "envy."

Makes no sense to me.

[Hannah Bell]

21. but you're obviously rational.

[JVS]

11. I think it must have been Prole Rage!

;-)

[Adsos Letter]

3. hard to say....

this is a minimum security facility. Last time they were rioting about poor access to proper health care.

I really wonder about the difference in conditions between government run facilities, and corporate run ones.

I suppose it depends upon the facility, and the oversight involved...

[wolfgangmo]

6. Not really

I've worked in maximum security environments.

The main difference is how the staff is paid and how long they stay. In state run facilities the staff is usually career officers and staff while at private facilities the turn over can be huge. At some privately run prisons the entire staff can turn over every year.

For me the state facilities are safe and the private ones are not. With career officers corruption is kept at a minimum because staff know that they are not just getting a little extra cash for bringing in contraband but that they are effectively ending their careers and WILL GO TO JAIL.

At private run facilities the staff doesn't have experience, will be peppered with gang "plants" who are only there to make thing easy for the bangers and bring in contraband for them, and the staff who want to do a good job will have no older hands to steady and train them. Further, inexperienced staff will tend to make mistakes and cause problems that can grow into riots.

Bottom line, outsourcing doesn't work. It may save a little money short term, but it costs big time in the long run. Who do you think footed the bill for containing that riot? We, the public, did when that prison lost control and had to call in outside agencies to give them the manpower to quell and contain that riot. The bill was likely enormous and the public paid for it. This is just one more example of corporate welfare.

[Adsos Letter]

8. Well, I tend to agree with you...

and your experience and reasoning are certainly sound.

I had not thought of the issues you raised... I have thought of it in terms of lax oversight on constitutional protections.

[vadawg]

19. A good summary of some of the issues

A good command structure is a must, and probuably the best is sworn leo guards, which leeds to a lot less corruption and abuse.

[ColbertWatcher]

22. I agree, excellent summary! n/t

[JVS]

10. What a shitty article. They don't know why and won't tell us what the demands are.

[Adsos Letter]

12. It is poorly written...

Fox had more info, but I was loathe to cite them... :(

[JVS]

13. Could you tell me what they said?

It just bugs me when journalists don't give a damn about the details.

[Adsos Letter]

15. Give me a minute and I will see ifI can find the article...

[JVS]

16. thanks

[Adsos Letter]

17. Here ya go...not a lot more on specifics...

and I may have been wrong about the security level of the prison.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,486344,00.html

[JVS]

14. dupe

[Matariki]

20. 2,080 inmates rioting in a 980 bed facility?

can't imagine what the problem might be...

[Elidor]

23. And that's just two of the three wings

It sounds like they might have as many as 3,000 people in that hellhole. For-profit prisons are blatantly incompatible with basic human rights. There is no incentive to treat prisoners as anything but cattle, nor is there any substantial penalty for doing so, apparently. Our judicial/prison system is badly broken.

[Matariki]

24. I totally agree. There are some things that should just NOT be for-profit in a healthy society

Prisons are definitely at the top of the list. Companies like Blackwater too.

Weapons sales in general should probably be near the top of the list too.