Posted on February 2, 2009

Texas prisoners riot for 2d time in two months

AP, February 2, 2009

Law enforcement authorities in West Texas were trying yesterday to restore order at a privately run federal prison where a riot broke out, the second disturbance in as many months.

Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, said the riot at the Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos started Saturday and was continuing.

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The facility about 430 miles west of Dallas holds more than 2,400 inmates.

A riot erupted there in December over requests for better medical treatment. Minor injuries were reported in that disturbance.

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Correctional officer Matt Guerra said on Saturday that rioting inmates had gotten close to a control area where “they can open practically everything.”

He also said inmates had started a fire.

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