PECOS, Texas – Inmates at a privately run federal prison in western Texas started a riot and set at least one fire Saturday for the second time in less than two months, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The disturbance broke out in an area of the Reeves County Detention Center that houses up to 2,000 inmates, corrections officer Matt Guerra said.
"They took over the compound," he said. "They burned half the stuff over there."
Guerra said rioting inmates were close to a control area where "they can open practically everything." He said he could see smoke coming from the area.
Guerra said prison officers were safe but that he wasn't sure whether inmates were injured.
Helicopters and Department of Public Safety troopers from the Pecos area had descended on the facility.
"You name it, we've got it out there," Guerra said.
DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said earlier that the disturbance was in the prison yard. She said she had no information on injuries.
A spokeswoman for the Reeves County Sheriff's Department said he had no information about the riot.
Sylvia Garza, an executive secretary at the prison, said officials had no comment.
In December, rioting inmates at the facility about 430 miles west of Dallas sought better medical treatment. Officials said there were minor injuries.
The GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Florida, has run the lockup through contracts with Reeves County and the Federal Bureau of Prisons since 2003. The prison holds more than 2,400 inmates.
Pablo E. Paez, a spokesman for GEO, did not immediately respond to phone or e-mail messages Saturday night.
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