Prison riots have been occurring in
American prisons even before the 1800s, and riots continue to be a part of the
American prison system to this day. Even in the past century, there have been
over 1,500 prison riots reported in America. There are many reasons why inmates
break out into fights and even full on riots. Prison by nature is a very tense
and hostile place, and tensions boil over very easily. The culture of gangs in
prisons also leads to many fights and riots. At any time, a rival gang member
may cross the line and the gang responds by attacking the rival gang. Gangs
also order hits on rival gang members or even members of their own gang if they
broke a rule within the gang, and this can lead to full riots breaking out in
other gangs and other parts of the prison.
Prison riots are still a problem in
American prisons today, and only a few weeks ago there was another prison riot
that occurred in a Federal Prison in Mississippi. The prison was the Adams County
Correctional Center, a privately owned, low-security prison that holds around
2,500 inmates. The prison holds mostly illegal immigrants for the Federal
Bureau of Prisons, and most of the inmates were arrested on drug charges. Even
though it is a low-security prison, a riot broke out after two rival gangs
clashed over a power struggle in the prison on May 20th of this year. The large
number of gang members within the prison showed that it was only a matter of
time before one gang would try to take control of the prison over all the other
gangs.
The riot in the Adams County
Correctional Facility lasted nearly 12 hours before all the inmates were either
subdued or brought to the hospital for medical treatment. After the riot ended,
a total of 19 guards and inmates were injured during the outbreak, and one
prison guard was killed from blunt force trauma to the head. There were 300
inmates said to be the cause of all the violence and the inmates were armed
with either broom or mop handles to fend off the guards.None of the inmates
escaped from the prison during the riot.
Even though one guard was killed in
the riot and 19 others injured, this riot is relatively small compared to other
prison riots in the past. Inmate uprisings in Arizona, New Mexico, and
California prisons have claimed over 30 lives in some of the prison riots. A
maximum security prison in Ohio two decades ago experienced a riot that lasted
11 days, and 33 inmates were killed during the siege.
Prison officials have been trying
to keep inmates in line and prevent riots as much as possible, but inmates are
always finding new ways to make weapons and attack other inmates. The culture
of gangs in prisons leads to many turf battles and rivalries that result in
fights, and many fights break out into full riots. Prisons like TAMMS in
Illinois do not experience riots like in the Mississippi case, since inmates
are locked up alone for almost all hours of the day. But, in prisons where
inmates get time to walk around the yard and talk with other inmates, tensions
commonly boil over, and fights are a common occurrence in many prisons today.
There have been efforts made by officials to try and stop prison riots from
occurring, but in cases where it takes only a split second for mayhem to break
out, guards need to constantly be on watch to try and prevent riots from
happening.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/20/guard-killed-several-others-injured-in-riot-at-mississippi-prison-officials-say/
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