Over 500 inmates transferred after riot in US prison

Washington, Feb 24 (IANS/EFE) After a riot last week at a prison in the US state of Texas that left much of it in shambles, authorities transferred to other facilities 570 of the 2,880 inmates who were serving their sentences there, prison officials said Monday.

Feb 20, some 2,000 inmates at the Willacy County Correctional Center, located in the town of Raymondville, took control of the prison armed with pipes, a situation that lasted until Feb 21 night, while the ringleaders of the riot negotiated with the authorities.

During the riot, inmates burned three of the 10 units comprising the prison and destroyed the plumbing, heating, cooling and ventilation systems.

Evidently, the thing that sparked the protests was dissatisfaction among the prisoners over the medical services provided at the facility.

The 570 prisoners who have been transferred so far were sent to other federal prisons both inside and outside Texas, the private Management and Training Corp., which manages the facility, said in a communique.

The company did not discuss the new locations of the transferred prisoners "for security reasons."

This first group of transferred prisoners was comprised of low security inmates and illegal immigrants, according to US Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross.

--IANS/EFE

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