A prisoner riot Friday night caused an estimated $15,000 damage in Crawford County's 2½-year-old jail, Sheriff Ron Brown said.
Sheriff's officials Monday were assessing damage that included flooding in four of the jail's cell blocks and were reviewing video to determine who was responsible for the damage, Brown said. He said he will seek inciting to riot charges against those involved.
No officers or inmates were injured in the riot, Brown said.
He said reviewing the video hasn't been easy because prisoners threw toilet paper rolls at the cameras and the paper draped over the cameras, blocking the view.
Damage was restricted to the 40-prisoner G Block except for the flooding, which reached into four blocks and the jail's library. Brown said the damage in the common area of G Block included broken lights, a sprinkler head, ceiling tiles and air conditioning ducts. Some frame work in the ceiling was damaged.
The ceiling is 17 feet high and the damage was done by someone throwing an insulated food tray, which is thick and heavy, into the ceiling, Brown said. He said he didn't know Monday how the tray was left behind in the cell block.
Brown said he will have to call in plumbers, electricians and heating and air conditioning specialists for repairs.
The incident started about 7:20 p.m. Friday in G Block, which Brown said houses prisoners who have been sentenced to the Arkansas Department of Correction and are waiting to be transferred.
Deputies were moving an unruly prisoner out of the block to an isolation cell when other inmates became unruly. There were 39 inmates in the cell block at the time, but Brown said he would not estimate Monday how many were involved in the riot.
The broken sprinkler discharged a large amount of water into the cell block but the water was not draining away, Brown said. There are drains in the floor about every 10 feet throughout the jail, he said. About 11/2 inches of water accumulated in the four cell blocks and the library in the 15 minutes it took deputies to shut off the water.
"Evidently, the drainage system didn't work. I believe it must be clogged up," he said.
When the riot started, Brown said, deputies radioed for help. Officers from throughout the county responded, including Van Buren police, Arkansas State Police and Highway Patrol, as well as officers from Mountainburg, Mulberry, Alma, Kibler and Dyer.
It took about 25 minutes for officers to assemble on scene before entry was made to G Block. Inmates gave up as soon as officers entered, Brown said.
All the prisoners in the cell block were placed on lockdown until Monday, he said. Inmates in the other flooded blocks were moved around as the cleanup proceeded, he said.
Crawford County opened the 307-bed, $20 million jail on U.S. 64 between Van Buren and Alma in November 2016.
State Desk on 03/12/2019