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WASHINGTON — The federal jail system was positioned on a nationwide lockdown on Monday after a gang combat at a high-security penitentiary in Beaumont, Texas, left two inmates lifeless, the Bureau of Prisons mentioned in an announcement.
Whereas lethal fights escape with some regularity in federal penitentiaries, the bureau not often locks down all 120 of its amenities in response.
“In an abundance of warning, the Bureau of Prisons (B.O.P.) is securing our amenities as a brief measure to make sure the nice order of our establishments,” Kristie Breshears, a bureau spokeswoman, mentioned in an announcement. “We anticipate this safety measure shall be short-lived.”
Ms. Breshears mentioned the bureau would monitor occasions inside its amenities and modify its operations because the state of affairs developed, however declined to elaborate additional for security and safety causes.
The lockdown was reported earlier by The Associated Press.
A number of inmates on the Beaumont jail began a violent altercation round 11:30 Monday morning, and 4 folks have been taken to a hospital for remedy, in accordance with the Bureau of Prisons.
Two of these inmates — Guillermo Riojas, 54, sentenced to 38 years in jail for carjacking and interfering with interstate commerce, and Andrew Pineda, 34, sentenced to 6 and a half years on racketeering expenses — have been pronounced lifeless by hospital workers members, the bureau mentioned.
No workers members or different inmates have been injured within the altercation at Beaumont, a high-security jail that homes 1,372 male inmates. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was referred to as in to analyze.
Officers fearful that the lethal combat, which included members of the violent Salvadoran street gang MS-13, would set off violence at different amenities, in accordance with an individual briefed on the bureau’s resolution, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate a seamless investigation.
Officers started to lock down all federal jail amenities on Monday afternoon, that means that inmates have been usually confined to their cells.
Whereas the bureau’s unusually extreme response signifies that the combat was distinctive in its potential to create ripple results, the violence was additionally consistent with troubles which have lengthy plagued the Bureau of Prisons.
This yr alone, the bureau has introduced 4 inmate deaths and three escapes, because it continues to wrestle with workers shortages, well being points stemming from Covid-19, violence, mismanagement and worker misconduct.
This month, Michael Carvajal, who was appointed to run the Bureau of Prisons in February 2020, mentioned he planned to resign. Mr. Carvajal agreed to remain on till a successor was in place.
The A.P. reported in November that greater than 100 workers on the bureau had been arrested and convicted of or sentenced for crimes prior to now three years, prompting Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to name for Mr. Carvajal’s resignation.
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