Thread: Prison Riot Rattles Raymondville

Video at link.

RAYMONDVILLE -
A riot at an immigrant detention center in Willacy County kept the city of Raymondville on edge most of Friday.


The riot was the talk of the town. Many Raymondville residents were concerned about the employees at the prison.


Zeke Martinez is a volunteer with the Catholic Diocese. He goes into the prison twice a week to minister to the inmates.


Martinez said he has a good relationship with the prison guards and all the prison staff. He said many of the people working there are locals and they are highly trained.


Martinez said prison staff is very strict, and a riot like Friday was highly unlikely.


“Sometimes I feel safer inside the prison than I do outside. You never know who's going to hit you in the head in the outside,” Martinez said.


Martinez said diocese volunteers were not at the prison when the riot broke out.


A waitress at a local restaurant said her son is a prison guard. He has not been allowed to tell her any information about the riot.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/...ville/31391418

Operator of Immigrant Detention Facility Releases Statement

No incidents overnight


POSTED: 09:20 AM CST Feb 21, 2015

New details in the ongoing confrontation between inmates and staff at the Willacy County Immigrant Detention Facility.


Three to five inmates and two correctional officers are injured.


A statement this morning from MTC, which runs the facility under a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, says law enforcement officials made progress overnight in their dialog with inmates. They also say there were no incidents overnight.


The confrontations began early yesterday morning, when some of the inmates began protesting about the quality of medical care they're receiving inside.


Just after 1 p.m., hundreds of inmates broke free from their lockdown inside the facility, poured out into the recreation yard, and set fire to three of the housing units.


Prison officials say 2,000 inmates were involved in the uprising, but are looking to confirm the exact number.


Dozens of armed federal, state, and local law enforcement showed up to secure the perimeter. Three schools in nearby Raymondville were placed on a soft lockdown.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/...ement/31400448

Video at link on this story:


Sheriff Says All Inmates Accounted For and Negotiations Continue


Patrol units are located around the detention center


POSTED: 11:39 PM CST Feb 20, 2015
UPDATED: 12:09 AM CST Feb 21, 2015

RAYMONDVILLE -
Negotiations continue at a Willacy County Correction Center where a disturbance broke out Friday.


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Patrol units are located at all four corners of the detention facility.


CHANNEL 5 NEWS spoke with Sheriff Larry Spence and he said law officials are in the process of negotiating with inmates. He expects those negotiations to go on throughout the night.


They want to make sure the rioting that happened earlier does not repeat itself. He also described what happened inside the facility after everything that happened.


Spence said, “It's a little, a little nasty in there okay. They've had access to stuff of that nature. A mop and some brooms, stuff of that nature. But as they are sweeping through, there they are going to clean all that out. Haven't had anything really serious. Rumor is there might be some knives out of the kitchen in possession of someone, but we haven't run across that yet.”


Here is a breakdown of what happened throughout the day.


Early in the morning, some offenders were demonstrating their concerns with the medical services at the center. They were put on lockdown at 12:15 p.m.


CHANNEL 5 NEWS crews arrived 30 minutes later at 12:45pm. At that time, the crew only saw six law enforcement officers.


At 1p.m., several prisoners broke through the housing structures.


At 1:20 p.m., smoke could be seen rising near the housing structures. The offenders set fires inside three of the ten housing units.


Around 2 p.m., more law enforcement agencies arrived accompanied by a DPS helicopter.


Sheriff Spence said all inmates are accounted for and nobody is being held hostage.


Conditions are calm as they continue with negotiations.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/...tinue/31396530

ILLEGAL ALIENS RIOT IN TEXAS PRISON NEAR BORDER

by ILDEFONSO ORTIZ20 Feb 2015244
MCALLEN, Texas — Approximately 2,000 inmates at a federal detention center near the border that primarily houses immigration detainees rioted and set off fires, requiring a massive mobilization of law enforcement to secure the perimeter and restore order.


The uprising began Friday morning at the MTC Detention Center in Raymondville when a group of prisoners began getting agitated about the medical services in the private prison facility, KGBT reported.


The inmates broke out of the housing area and made their way into the recreational yard, prompting a lockdown of the prison. KGBT reported that the inmates set off fires in three separate units of the facility. They also tore down some of the tents used for their housing and shook the perimeter fence as they chanted their grievances.


Tear gas was used in an attempt to break up the rioting. Federal, state and local law enforcement swarmed to the facility, setting up a perimeter around the prison as authorities worked to regain order inside.


The facility is run by MTC, a private company that is under contract with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The BOP lists the number of detainees at 2,881, with the population being made up primarily of immigration detainees.


The detention center is located in Raymondville, about 40 miles north of the border city of Brownsville, and is near two other detention facilities, as well as being right across the street from the Willacy Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s deputies were seen guarding the perimeter of the facility.


As a precautionary measure, school officials in Willacy County placed three of their schools in a soft lockdown as the situation unfolded.


As of press time, authorities still had not released any information regarding possible casualties, among either the inmates or law enforcement.


Near the Texas border, private prisons are used to house federal inmates who are in detention awaiting trial for offenses ranging from immigration violations to drug trafficking and human smuggling.


Follow Ildefonso Ortiz on Twitter and on Facebook.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/...n-near-border/

Wait until they decide to riot on the outside in our communities when something doesn't go their way. This is such a dangerous situation for the United States to have 20 million or more of these people roaming free in our country.

Not to worry, Obama admin. will pardon them in a few days and set them free. Probably close the facility for reasons yet unannounced, but he can find cause in the rioters demands. Are you ready for this show?

by Ildefonso Ortiz
21 Feb 2015

McALLEN, Texas — According to a Texas border television station, when about 2,000 illegal aliens engage in a mass riot, yelling, overturning tents, and setting fires, it is only a “demonstration.”

“Approximately 2,000 federal inmates were involved in a demonstration at a prison facility in Willacy County,” begins the report by television station KGBT.

The riot took place on Friday at a private prison facility in the city of Raymondville, about 40 miles north of the Texas border with Mexico, as Breitbart Texas reported. The private facility is under contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and holds primarily illegal aliens, as well as other inmates facing federal charges. The facility can hold a total of around 2,900 detainees.

In their reporting of the riot, KGBT gave a detailed report about the massive mobilization needed to quell the rioters and mentioned that three local schools had been placed on lockdown as a response to the “demonstration.”

“Multiple agencies, including federal and state authorities, were called to secure the perimeter of the Willacy County Correctional Center, a privately owned prison contracted through the federal government,” KGBT staff reported.

The station then provided a detailed account of the rioting.

“Some inmates broke out of the housing area and made their way into the recreational yard prompting a lockdown of the prison. Some inmates were seen shaking the fence. Tear gas was used in an attempt to break up the disturbance…Small fires broke out in three of the units, and the Raymondville Fire Department is on scene for precautionary measures,” KGBT reported.

While the story is a chilling account of events, KGBT chose to minimize the seriousness of the situation by calling it a “demonstration,” rather than a prison riot by illegal aliens.

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/...demonstration/