Federal prisons placed on temporary lockdown after deadly violence at Texas facility

By David Shortell, CNN

Federal prisons were placed on a temporary lockdown nationwide Monday after violence broke out at an institution in Texas and two inmates died.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) said it was acting with an “abundance of caution” and the facilities would be secured as “a temporary measure to ensure the good order of our institutions. We anticipate this security measure will be short-lived.”

The agency said in a statement there was a fight Monday shortly before noon CT involving multiple inmates at US Penitentiary Beaumont in southeast Texas.

Four inmates were taken to a hospital and two died, the prison agency said.

The BOP said it will continue to “monitor events carefully and will adjust its operations accordingly as the situation evolves.”

The prison in Texas also released a statement and said the FBI was notified. No staff or other inmates were injured and “at no time was the public in danger,” officials said.

There are 122 federal prisons in the United States, according to BOP’s website. USP Beaumont is a high-security facility with almost 1,400 male inmates, the website says.

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