The Nation - News from Jan. 22, 1989

A major uprising at the troubled Lorton Correctional Complex, about 20 miles south of Washington, left one inmate dead of stab wounds, a dozen inmates and corrections officers injured and the administration building severely damaged by fire, officials said. Inmates took advantage of a power failure Friday night to set a series of fires, said Pat Wheeler, a spokesman for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. During the three-alarm conflagration that began about 9:15 p.m. and continued for five hours, inmates broke dormitory windows and threw bricks as corrections officers scrambled over the main gate of the facility, yelling that the prisoners were in control of the facility, officials said. Fairfax County fire Lt. Robert Timmons said fire crews could not begin battling the blaze until after midnight because inmates were roaming unchecked throughout the compound.