DENVER—Two inmates wounded in a fatal riot at a federal prison in Florence have filed a lawsuit alleging the U.S. Bureau of Prisons used excessive force in firing 400 to 500 rounds to quell the disturbance.
Bureau spokeswoman Felicia Ponce declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Prisoners Richard Steele and Edward Eviey filed their lawsuit last month in U.S. District Court in Denver. Steele was shot in the foot and Eviey was struck in the face by a shell fragment as staff at the U.S. Penitentiary in Florence responded to a riot April 20, 2008. The riot started as white-supremacist inmates taunted black inmates in a prison yard in celebration of Adolf Hitler’s birthday.
The lawsuit says Steele and Eviey were injured even though they were 200 yards from the disturbance and after they had followed prison officers’ instructions to lie down with their hands on their heads.
The lawsuit alleges staff weren’t properly trained to handle riots or firearms and didn’t follow standard operating procedures. The inmates are seeking unspecified damages.
A month after the riot, the FBI said agents concluded officers were justified in firing their weapons.
The Bureau of Prisons has not publicly released an official investigative report about the disturbance.
———
Information from: The Denver Post,
