ONE DEAD, 22 HURT IN PRISON BRAWL

Texas Inmates Had Two Gang Fights in Facing Housing Units

A federal prison in Texas erupted in violence early Friday when two
gang-related fights broke out almost simultaneously in facing housing
units. One inmate was killed and 22 were injured, officials said.

It was the second outbreak of fighting in a federal lockup in Texas
in three weeks.

The Federal Correctional Institution in Three Rivers was locked down
as FBI agents began an inquiry, the Bureau of Prisons announced. The
prison, between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, houses 1,160 men.

The fights, which broke out about 6:20 a.m., were quelled with the
help of 10 non-guards - plumbers, electricians, secretaries and other
workers - who happened to be reporting early, said Richard Wechsler,
local president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a
supervisor and a former guard at the prison.

The employees, like the guards, were unarmed according to practice,
Wechsler said, "but they could start yelling, using their radios and
grabbing inmates."

The dead prisoner was identified as Servando Rodriguez, 38, an
illegal immigrant serving a 54-month sentence for marijuana and
parole violations. No details on the killing or the victim were provided.

Fifteen prisoners, two said to be in critical condition, were sent to
hospitals. Three were returned to the prison. Seven others with minor
injuries were treated at the prison.

No prison employees were reported hurt. But union leaders said
understaffing and increasingly violent inmates contributed to the
disturbances at Three Rivers and at the Federal Detention Center in Houston.

In Houston, a gang-related brawl March 11 involved up to 80
prisoners, injuring nine inmates and three staff members.

Investigators said they had no evidence that the two incidents were
related beyond antagonisms between powerful Mexican and Texas prison gangs.

The brawl in Houston, a detention center for 1,000 people with fewer
amenities than prisons, began with a gang-related fistfight,
investigators said, and was put down by police officers, firefighters
and guards with the help of a stun grenade.

The Three Rivers fights appeared coordinated, Wechsler said. They
broke out about the same time at two of the housing units, Karnes and
Live Oak, each holding 150 inmates, with one night guard in charge of
both where there used to be two.

The prison, he said, had lost 15 of its 125 guards to cutbacks over
the last five years.