Prison Riots In Texas Preceded by Years of Complaints

Prison Riots In Texas Preceded by Years of Complaints

Inmates of the federal prison located in South Texas rioted this February after years of complaints concerning despondent living conditions and lack of medical care. The riot, which occurred on February 20th, 2015, ended only when police officers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation took control of the situation and shut down the protest. Law enforcement officers used tear gas to finally contain the over 2,000 inmates who had gathered themselves in the recreational area during the riot.

This riot was not unexpected as for the last few years many inmates of this prison have reported instances in which the conditions in the prison were deplorable and generally unlivable. The prison, which houses undocumented immigrants who have returned to the US unlawfully, many times after deportation, has rather limited space to house inmates. Due to the overcrowding, many inmates are placed together in various tents with only a small area separating the beds. A few of these tents, used to house the many inmates, were caught on fire sometime during the duration of the incident.

The occurrence of prison riots and uprisings are generally publicized without clear reporting of the situations which caused the unrest. Prison conditions are a constant source of debate across the country; every state has had issues arise concerning the environment in which the inmates must live and operate. This riot follows the 2012 and 2013 strikes and protest against overflowing toilets and terminated water supplies that left inmates with unusable toilets and no drinking water.

A vast majority of residents have little to no idea of the status of the prisons in their states, as prison events are never as highly publicized as other types of new. The reputation inmates are given once they become a part of the prison community will certainly lead many to believe that the disturbance caused was as a result of the general prison population attitude. Still others will argue that the riot caused in the Texas facility was as a result of years of ignoring the needs of the inmates; a situation that slowly escalated into the fiasco it became.