Two dead, five hurt in Colorado prison unrest
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Two prisoners were killed and five wounded in a Colorado prison riot, officials said Monday, amid reports white supremacists marking Adolf Hitler's birthday may have sparked the unrest.
The violence erupted in a courtyard of a federal penitentiary in Florence, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Denver, prison spokesman Leann LaRiva told AFP.
The penitentiary "was placed on lockdown status because of an inmate disturbance which occurred on the recreation yard, yesterday afternoon at approximately 12:30 pm," he said.
"Two inmates have been pronounced dead, their names are withheld pending next of kin notification. We did take five inmates to local area hospitals for treatment," he said, adding no staff were injured.
But federal prosecutor Troy Eid told the local Rocky Mountain News the troubled was sparked by a group of white supremacists marking Hitler's birthday which fell on Sunday.
"They were acting provocatively on Hitler's birthday," he told the daily. Calls to his office by AFP were not immediately returned.
One of the most notorious jails in the United States is also located in Florence -- the high-security prison known as "Supermax" which houses 400 of the country's most dangerous criminals.
The US has the world's largest penal population with some 10 percent of the adult population behind bars. In 2005, 230 murders were committed in the country's prisons, according to the latest figures.
