12 Guards Hurt as Inmates Rebel Over Staff’s Blockade of N.Y. Jail

Prisoners angered by a two-day guards’ blockade of the city’s giant Rikers Island jail complex erupted in violence Tuesday night, injuring at least 12 guards and an undetermined number of inmates, officials said.

The disturbance occurred shortly before 6:30 p.m., just before a settlement was announced in the blockade by the guards, who were protesting the earlier beating of a guard by prisoners. The job action had kept hundreds of prisoners from making court appearances and thousands of workers from going home.

As word of the disturbance spread, many of the guards who had taken part in the protest got into their cars and headed for the prison dormitory where it was taking place.

A captain for the Correction Department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the inmates had clubs and knives.

“We had to gas them,” he said. “They came at us with homemade knives. They had broken up the bed frames. They were just fed up and they knew there weren’t too many of us, and that we were tired.”

The injuries included tear gas inhalation, stab wounds and bumps and bruises.

When the settlement was announced, a spokesman for the Correction Captains Assn., Joseph Dike, said the bridge leading to the island would be cleared as soon as the agreement’s details were on paper.

City officials met with union leaders to negotiate a peaceful end to the blockade.