Cubans at 2nd Prison Riot, Set Blazes, Take Hostages : 30 Injured in Fire at Atlanta

Cuban refugees rioted, set fires and seized hostages at a federal detention center in Atlanta today, just 36 hours after Cubans took control of a similar center in Louisiana.

Prison officials in Atlanta said 30 people were injured--four with gunshot wounds--in the rioting there.

Black smoke billowed from the center, which houses 1,500 of the 2,700 Cubans facing deportation under a new immigration pact with Cuba reached last Friday. Ambulances, police cars and fire trucks ringed the prison.

Four people were carried out of the 85-year-old inner-city prison on stretchers shortly after noon, but officials would not identify the victims or give any other details.

Three hours after the rioting broke out, prison officials and guards began face-to-face negotiations to end the siege.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, said center officials told him that several hostages were being held.

“An assistant warden told me the situation was out of control,” he said. “It would be some hours before they restored order.”

Prison officials said the inmates set the prison factory ablaze when the riot began and it continued to burn hours later, fueled by a supply of canvas bags made there.

By early afternoon smoke enveloping the institution had become so thick the prison was almost invisible from 200 yards away, and anxious relatives gathered outside the gates.

The Atlanta riot broke out 36 hours after 950 Cuban inmates seized control of the federal detention center in Oakdale, La., on Saturday night, setting fire to the buildings and taking 24 guards hostage.

The next day, 17 Cuban inmates escaped from a detention center in Laredo, Tex., by crawling through an air duct and climbing over a fence. Eleven were quickly recaptured, but six were still at large.

In all three incidents, the Cubans were protesting an agreement reached Friday under which 2,700 Cuban refugees who have criminal records or are mentally ill would be deported and 23,000 Cubans would be allowed to come to the United States annually.

“They would rather die than be sent back to Cuba,” said the wife of one Atlanta prisoner.

In Oakdale, prisoners released three of their hostages today, but a border patrol officer said the stalemate could continue for days.

“These people have nothing to lose. They don’t want to go back to Cuba,” he said.

The three hostages were released today because of their ill health, but no more details were immediately available.

“We continue to talk and discuss the situation,” said J. R. Johnson, the warden of the federal detention center at Oakdale.

“(Inmates) always remind us that (with) any attempt to rush the facility in any manner armed or unarmed, they are going to kill the hostages,” Johnson said. “They’ve made that very clear.”

Officials said the hostages were held in buildings scattered around the prison. “We’re not sure where the hostages are at this point,” prison official Jim Stevens said.

Fire destroyed half of the 14 buildings at the year-old, $17-million center, including the two-story administration building, a dormitory, a cafeteria and a processing center.

To try to win the hostages’ release, officials repeated to the inmates today that some might still qualify for parole if the guards were released unharmed.

Johnson said at least 200 Cuban inmates had recently qualified for parole because of good behavior.

Johnson said a “good portion” of the Cuban inmates were not directly involved in the riot.

“There are Cubans who do not want to be a part of this, who do not want to hurt anyone,” he said.