Pubdate: Sat, 29 Mar 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A - 5
Copyright: 2008 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Ralph Blumenthal, New York Times
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)

ONE DEAD, 22 HURT IN PRISON BRAWL

Texas Inmates Had Two Gang Fights in Facing Housing Units

A federal prison in Texas erupted in violence early Friday when two 
gang-related fights broke out almost simultaneously in facing housing 
units. One inmate was killed and 22 were injured, officials said.

It was the second outbreak of fighting in a federal lockup in Texas 
in three weeks.

The Federal Correctional Institution in Three Rivers was locked down 
as FBI agents began an inquiry, the Bureau of Prisons announced. The 
prison, between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, houses 1,160 men.

The fights, which broke out about 6:20 a.m., were quelled with the 
help of 10 non-guards - plumbers, electricians, secretaries and other 
workers - who happened to be reporting early, said Richard Wechsler, 
local president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a 
supervisor and a former guard at the prison.

The employees, like the guards, were unarmed according to practice, 
Wechsler said, "but they could start yelling, using their radios and 
grabbing inmates."

The dead prisoner was identified as Servando Rodriguez, 38, an 
illegal immigrant serving a 54-month sentence for marijuana and 
parole violations. No details on the killing or the victim were provided.

Fifteen prisoners, two said to be in critical condition, were sent to 
hospitals. Three were returned to the prison. Seven others with minor 
injuries were treated at the prison.

No prison employees were reported hurt. But union leaders said 
understaffing and increasingly violent inmates contributed to the 
disturbances at Three Rivers and at the Federal Detention Center in Houston.

In Houston, a gang-related brawl March 11 involved up to 80 
prisoners, injuring nine inmates and three staff members.

Investigators said they had no evidence that the two incidents were 
related beyond antagonisms between powerful Mexican and Texas prison gangs.

The brawl in Houston, a detention center for 1,000 people with fewer 
amenities than prisons, began with a gang-related fistfight, 
investigators said, and was put down by police officers, firefighters 
and guards with the help of a stun grenade.

The Three Rivers fights appeared coordinated, Wechsler said. They 
broke out about the same time at two of the housing units, Karnes and 
Live Oak, each holding 150 inmates, with one night guard in charge of 
both where there used to be two.

The prison, he said, had lost 15 of its 125 guards to cutbacks over 
the last five years.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake