Chief Says Guns Pointed at Texas Firefighters at Prison

Federal prison authorities said they will investigate whether guards at a South Texas lockup pointed guns at firefighters amid a "heightened security level" days after a riot.

Raymondville Police Chief Oscar Gutierrez said Federal Bureau of Prison guards pointed their guns at firefighters responding to a call Wednesday, the Valley Morning Star reported.

The Raymondville fire department got to the scene after the prison's staff extinguished a fire that broke out in an inmate housing unit, said Issa Arnita, spokesman for Management & Training Corp., the Utah company that operates the facility for the Bureau of Prisons.

The incident followed an uprising that began Feb. 20 at the Willacy County Correctional Center in Raymondville. Prisoners seized control of part of the facility, causing extensive damage.

Gutierrez said the prison's warden, Kerry Dixon, told him that guards confronted the firefighters who drove their own vehicles into the prison.

The police chief said "unacceptable gun-pointing" posed safety risks that forced him to lead firefighters out of the prison.

Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross said his agency will conduct a thorough review of the matter after all inmates have been moved from the prison, which was left uninhabitable after the riot.

"The BOP continually monitors all facilities under contract to ensure full compliance with the terms . and will take appropriate corrective action as necessary," Ross said in his email Friday. "We continue to work collaboratively with MTC staff, federal, state and local law enforcement and first responders."

Arnita and Gutierrez said "miscommunication" amid the prison's heightened security level helped spark the incident.

"We cannot provide any specific information related to BOP staff interacting with local first responders," Ross said in his email.

The facility had 2,800 prisoners, primarily "low-level" offenders who are immigrants in the country illegally.

Many of the inmates have already been relocated to other facilities. All of the prisoners are expected to eventually be transferred.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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