On Friday, inmates and staff the Bristol County House of Correction in Massachusetts engaged in a six-hour standoff, and while nobody was injured, the facility was left in rough shape.
The inmates, who were protesting the jail's decision to move them in order to do renovations, caused $200,000 in damage after fashioning weapons out of sharpened furniture and other items and trashing everything in sight.
According to South Coast Today, over 100 inmates were told Friday morning that they had to be moved so that their cells could be renovated to include toilets and "suicide resistant" bunk beds. They refused to leave, and mayhem ensued.
"If there were locks on the doors, the risk of this happening would have been far lower," Bristol County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jonathan Darling told Fox News. "Being able to go into lockdown or lock the inmates in the cells would have helped quell the disturbance before it started."
Under state law, inmates are required to have access to bathroom facilities, and since there was only a communal toilet in that block, the doors to the cells could not be locked.
Corrections officers first tried to calm the situation, but when it became apparent that their tactics were not working, they fled, locking the doors to the cell block behind them. Bristol County Sheriff Paul Heroux later said the situation could have easily devolved into a hostage crisis.
Using their homemade weapons, the inmates trashed the cell block for hours before law enforcement finally took action. Over 100 officers, from Suffolk, Plymouth, Hampden, Norfolk, and Barnstable counties, as well as the state Dept. of Corrections entered the area around 3 pm after trying to negotiate with the inmates via dialogue.
The inmates surrendered largely without issue, and were led in handcuffs out the door. Those involved in the standoff now face charges of destruction of property and have been moved to other blocks or jails in other counties.
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