Riot, hostage situation ends at West Texas prison

The Associated Press

PECOS, Texas -- An uprising at a privately run prison in West Texas ended Saturday morning after two hostages were released, authorities said.

Outside law enforcement officers returned control of the Reeves County Detention Center back to prison personnel about 6:30 a.m., said Patricia Dieschler, a state Department of Public Safety dispatcher.

Responding law enforcement officers were not injured, Dieschler said. Prison officials declined to comment Saturday.

Federal inmates at the prison took two prison employees hostage when the disturbance erupted Friday. Prison officials did not release the names of the two employees, who are recreation specialists at the prison. The hostages were released late Friday night.

The inmates, who include immigration detainees, were asking for better medical treatment, DPS Trooper John Barton told the Pecos Enterprise.

The riot started when the body of an inmate who died of natural causes was removed from the prison, Barton said.

Inmates burned an exercise room at the facility, but the exact cost of damage was not known, Barton said. The newspaper reported that firefighters had to extinguish bonfires inmates had set to keep warm overnight.

The GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla., has run the jail since 2003. The prison holds more than 2,400 inmates.

http://www.star-telegram.com/462/story/1091490.html