By Tom Murphy
The Associated Press
NEW CASTLE, Ind. — More than two dozen inmates face charges stemming from an April riot that broke out after hundreds of out-of-state prisoners were transferred to a privately run prison.
A total of 28 inmates — all but one of them from Arizona — appeared Tuesday in a temporary court set up at the New Castle Correctional Facility. The charges included rioting, criminal confinement, intimidation and battery by bodily waste.
About 500 prisoners from Arizona and Indiana burned mattresses and broke windows during the disturbance at the medium-security prison April 24. Several threw rocks and sprayed hoses at correction officers. Eight prisoners, a guard and a counselor were injured, none seriously.
The riot happened six weeks after the first of about 600 Arizona inmates began joining 1,050 Indiana prisoners. The New Castle prison, about 45 miles east of Indianapolis, is managed by GEO Group, based in Boca Raton, Fla.
Documents filed with the charges show that the prisoners’ frustration with being transferred helped trigger the violence.
The trouble began when Arizona inmates refused to wear the green smocks prisoners don for meals. The inmates segregated themselves by groups — white, black, Mexican and American Indian — and a representative from each went to a meeting to discuss a resolution.
Inmates from one dorm gathered for a meal without their smocks. Guards decided to take them to the mess hall “to contain them there and deal with them,” a case report states.
When the prisoners encountered a locked gate between the mess hall and their dorm, they started climbing fences.
Indiana prisoners joined in, breaking glass in their dorm windows to get out. About 200 inmates were in the recreation yard when a couple of Arizona inmates blocked the path of Capt. Ron Deaton as the guard walked toward a gate.
One prisoner dropped to his hands and knees behind the officer while the other inmates pushed Deaton, toppling him, the report stated. Inmates then kicked and stomped on the guard.
A state report issued in May acknowledged the Department of Correction transferred the out-of-state inmates too quickly, had used inexperienced guards and failed to have equal meal and recreation schedules for the two groups of inmates.
Bill Lamoreaux, an Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman, said the state would proceed slowly on future transfers.
“We don’t want to get it done quickly. We want it done correctly,” he said.
Indiana and Arizona suspended the prison transfers after the riot.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Arizona inmate Timothy D. Boyle told the judge he wanted an attorney who was not from the local public defender’s office.
“I don’t believe I will get a fair trial in this county,” said Boyle, who was charged with rioting, a felony.