THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409200349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
A cellblock on the seventh-floor of the Norfolk City Jail remained under the control of 33 felony inmates late Monday night after trash fires were set and a deputy was injured, authorities said.
Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill said that jail guards were locked out of cellblock 7H and that negotiations with the inmates might be needed to resolve the situation.
The deputy was hurt during a fight in which inmates threw feces and urine on him, Norfolk Sheriff's Department spokesman George Schafer said. He was treated at the jail and returned to duty. There were also reports that an inmate was taken away in an ambulance soon after the incident was reported.
The first call came into Norfolk police at 7:49 p.m., when a mattress fire was reported on the seventh floor of the jail, which is at the corner of St. Paul's Boulevard and City Hall Avenue.
Later, inmates began burning tissue paper, authorities said.
A command post was set up inside the jail by Norfolk Sheriff Robert McCabe, who is in charge of the jail, Norfolk Police Chief Melvin High and Commonwealth's Attorney Chuck Griffith.
Police SWAT team members dressed in riot gear entered the building about 11 p.m. In addition, specially trained guards from St. Brides Correctional Center in Chesapeake were called in.
``That will be the necessary manpower on site to take care of the situation,'' Hill said.
Firetrucks and ambulances from Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach stood by outside the jail on City Hall Avenue.
It was unclear late Monday what provoked the confrontation.
In a report received by McCabe on Aug. 5, the U.S. Justice Department concluded that the City Jail was ``grossly overcrowded'' and was a serious public-health threat where living conditions are ``offensive to elementary concepts of human decency.''
``Based on our investigation, we believe that conditions at the Norfolk City Jail are grossly deficient and violate the constitutional rights of prisoners,'' the Justice Department said.
The report demanded that McCabe come up with a plan within 90 days to cut the jail's population nearly in half - from 1,377 to 750 - and implement the plan within six months.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK JAIL RIOT DEMONSTRATION by CNB