| Inmate Disturbance Resolved Peacefully at Ontario Prison |
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Thursday, June 11, 1998
CONTACT: Perrin Damon (503)945-0925
INMATE DISTURBANCE RESOLVED PEACEFULLY AT ONTARIO PRISON
A disturbance at Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Ore. was resolved without injury late Thursday evening. Approximately 45 inmates complied with orders and surrendered to prison officials between 9:25 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. MDT.
The inmates ended their "sit down" action following a series of explicit warnings by prison officials that the disturbance would no longer be tolerated. Officers used a series of warning shots and oral orders and warnings to convince inmates to drop to the ground and subsequently leave the yard. Inmates had armed themselves with recreational equipment such as baseball bats and horseshoes as well as blades from lawn mowers.
Each inmate was individually restrained and removed to the prison´s newly opened disciplinary segregation unit. The inmates will be interviewed and charged with prison rules infractions which may ultimately result in segregation time, loss of privileges, monetary fines and a change in custody status from medium to maximum. Criminal charges will be determined by the Oregon State Police in conjunction with the Malheur County district attorney.
The disturbance began at approximately 3:40 p.m. MDT Thursday afternoon when 94 inmates on the yard refused to return to their housing units. During the course of the evening, half the inmates chose to comply with staff orders to leave the yard.
One warning shot was fired at approximately 4:10 p.m. MDT to stop inmates from compromising a recreational equipment shed on the yard. The subsequent shots that helped bring resolution were fired at 9:18 and 9:28 p.m. MDT.
The inmates were apparently upset about an impending move from one housing unit to another. No staff or inmate injuries have been reported as a result of the disturbance.
In an apparently unrelated but coincidental event, two separate inmate-to-inmate fights occurred in the same recreation yard earlier Thursday afternoon. One inmate was reportedly injured in the fights and was treated in the prison infirmary.
Snake River Correctional Institution´s inmate population at midnight Thursday morning was 1,478. The institution has been expanding over the last two years and most new housing units are completed. The new design of this and Oregon´s future medium security prisons calls for discrete housing units accommodating 80 inmates each. By separating the inmate population into small groups, widespread disturbances that encompass a large portion of the inmate population can be avoided.
Department of Corrections Director David S. Cook, who was in ultimate command from Salem, said that the public was not endangered at any time. "Excellent work was done by all our staff, including assistance from the Tactical Emergency Response Teams from both SRCI and Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. I am very pleased by the control and command decisions made by SRCI management. It was obvious throughout that the safety of staff, the public and other inmates was paramount."
last revision 2-28-2000 peg cook
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