A couple thousand inmates using pipes as weapons seized control of a prison in South Texas. Fires were set inside three of the prison’s 10 housing units as the inmates refused to perform work duties. Most of the inmates are illegal immigrants, and reportedly were upset over what they thought was inadequate medical care.
The Blaze reports,
As many as 2,800 inmates will be moved to other facilities one day after several hundred prisoners seized control of part of a federal prison in South Texas, an official said.
A previous Associated Press report said about 2,000 inmates seized control of the facility.
The Willacy County Correctional Center in Raymondville is now “uninhabitable due to damage caused by the inmate population,” U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross said in a statement.
Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence on Saturday declined to discuss the main points of the negotiations but said there are no hostages involved and only minor injuries reported.
Hopefully authorities will get the situation under control. This should come as no surprise to anyone considering the federal government’s attitude towards illegal immigration. Since the government mostly turns a blind eye to the lawbreaking, the illegal immigrants question why they should even succumb to authority.