NCJ Number
133721
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 53 Issue: 7 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 122,124,126-133
Date Published
1991
Length
10 pages
Annotation
On August 21, 1991, 118 Cuban detainees at the Federal Correctional Institution in Talladega, Alabama seized control of a detention unit and took 11 Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) employees hostage. After a 10-day standoff, during which time two hostages were released, FBI and BOP tactical teams stormed the building and rescued the remaining hostages.
Abstract
The detainees at FCI-Talladega were among the most hardened, difficult, and intractable of the Mariel Cubans remaining in BOP custody, and as a group, were awaiting repatriation to Cuba. The repatriation unit at the facility provided a high security setting for these detainees. Nevertheless, a small group of detainees was able to overpower a guard during a scheduled recreation time and eventually gained control over the entire unit. During the negotiations, it became clear to prison officials that the detainees had no firm leadership structure and therefore no defined negotiation position. There were indications the hostages' lives were in danger. Food became an important issue in the negotiations; meals were eventually traded for medical access to the hostages. Finally, as the situation in the unit deteriorated, the time came for tactical action. That such a lengthy hostage situation was resolved with no loss of life or serious injury to staff or detainees was achieved through the effective deployment of command structure, the marshalling of resources from around the U.S., the personal involvement of the Acting Attorney General of the U.S., and the professional performance of BOP staff from Talladega and other institutions.