prison break

there's a riot going on.

Indiana State Police have confirmed a disturbance at the New Castle Correctional Facility. Troopers have been dispatched to the scene. New Castle Mayor Tom Nipp calls the disturbance a "full scale riot."

The riot erupted around 2:30 Tuesday afternoon. Chopper 8 flew over the scene and witnessed at least three burning fires set around the facility.

"Prisoners were trying to tear down some fence," said Nipp. "The exterior fence is electrical wire. The police department has been fully mobilized."

A perimeter has been established around the facility to ensure that if anyone did manage to get over the fence, measures are being taken to ensure the public's safety.

so it would seem that none of these prisoners will actually manage to escape, as in the hit fox tv drama. but things are still going crazy over there.

also:

Eyewitness News has received several unconfirmed reports by callers claiming that prisoners from Indiana are fighting against prisoners from Arizona. Earlier in the year, the State of Indiana agreed to house the inmates from Arizona, where overcrowding is an issue. Before that, the New Castle Facility was at half capacity. The prisoner transfer created severl jobs for the state.

apparently the arizona prisoners are pissed off at being shuttled to a prison hundreds of miles from home, in indiana. last month, governor daniels signed a deal to import all these arizona prisoners. today, he's probably regretting that decision.

p.s. tdw reports:

In case you were wondering, GEO Group, the Florida-based company that runs the New Castle facility, has given $24,300 to Republican candidates, including the Guv, over the past few cycles. Run that search here.

update: doug has more background:

The New Castle Correctional Facility which went private on January 1, 2006, has been touted by the Daniels administration as proof of its privatization model for correctional facilities. The Daniels Administration began contract negotiations to run the prison with GEO Group, Inc. in August 2005.

GEO, Inc., the private contractor was formerly known as Wackenhut, a company with a colorful history. With respect to private prisons, it has gotten in trouble in more than one state for its employees having sex with inmates. In Louisiana, the state had to take over a juvenile facility after the Department of Justice accused Wackenhut of subjecting its inmates to excessive abuse and neglect. It has been accused of diverting money for drug treatment programs and of having lax procedures for background checks. More recently, GEO, Inc. was accused of overcharging the state of Florida by $5 million. For a lot of additional accusations, the veracity of which I do not pretend to know, check out the GEO Group Rap Sheet.¶