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December 13, 2008
TX: Prisoners set fire and take two hostages at GEO Reeves Co Detention Center
Saturday, Dec 13, 2008
Rioting inmates hold 2 hostages at privately run prison in West Texas
The Associated Press
PECOS — Inmates at a privately run prison took two hostages Friday after starting a riot and setting at least one fire, authorities said.
Unrest broke out in the afternoon at the sprawling Reeves County Detention Center, which holds more than 2,400 inmates. By late Friday, it was still not clear what prompted the riot, whether anyone inside the prison had been injured, or how many inmates were involved.
The hostages are recreation specialists, and a hostage negotiator was talking to the inmates, Reeves County sheriff’s spokesman Michael Estorga told the Odessa American.
Fire crews and additional law officers were initially called to the complex after a fire broke out in one building.
A woman who answered the phone in the warden’s office Friday evening said she had no comment and hung up.
The GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla., has run the prison since 2003 through contracts with Reeves County and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/v-print/story/1091621.html
Posted by lois at December 13, 2008 02:26 PM