All of Floridas 97,000 state prison inmates are on lockdown and will remain confined to their dorms at least through the weekend in response to unspecified threats about potential rioting, officials from the Florida Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday.
All able-bodied officers, including new recruits, were ordered to report to work starting Thursday. Graduations have been postponed this weekend so that new officers can assist with staffing and help conduct searches for weapons and other contraband, FDC said. Probation officers, too, have been brought in.
Shakedowns, or searches, of nearly every dorm in every prison were underway, and officers seized a number of weapons and other contraband, such as cell phones, authorities said.
Its almost like were in hurricane mode. All days off have been canceled, its all hands on deck and they are going corner to corner of every prison to do shakedowns, said John Rivera, president of the state Police Benevolent Association, the union representing corrections, probation and parole officers.
The first-of-their-kind measures coincide with a planned demonstration in Washington this weekend that prison officials worry will spark outbreaks of violence within prisons directed at DOC employees.
The threats are tied to a movement that began last September in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison riot, in which inmates took control of a prison in New York state leading to 43 deaths.
