Fort Leavenworth Prison (USP Leavenworth)

Fort Leavenworth

Riots and Hostage Takings

July 11, 1992: a riot attempt by 300 angry prisoners was narrowly thwarted by Warden Gary Henman, who, after hearing of a planned uprising, ordered 150 correctional officers to storm the complex and rescue two officers that already been taken hostage by inmates.

The riot, which began at 8 p.m., lasted for just over 4 hours. It started in the auditorium of the facility, driving out both prison guards and staff out, as well as the projectionist, who escaped through the duct-work in a trapdoor in the ceiling of the projection room.

Shortly after, inmates repossessed the kitchen, while the staff cook on duty, Bruce Watt, barricaded himself in the kitchen office, sending a radio message out for help just before destroying the radio in fear that inmates would use it to their advantage. He tried to fend off his attackers by snapping a broom in half and lathering it up with lard to prevent inmates from grabbing it from him, but he eventually lost the fight and became a hostage. Inmates later took control of the foyer area of the prison, where the two prison wings meet in a "V" shape, and then the central hallway that connects the two wings together.

Officials believe the riot broke out over a feud between gang factions. At Leavenworth, like other institutions, gangs are divided by their respective home cities, with those from Los Angeles calling themselves the California Blacks and those from the west coast calling themselves the D.C. Blacks. These two gangs, the two largest at Leavenworth, were believed to be at the center of the riot, after inmate Winford Brown, who apparently knew too little about gang policies, insulted one of the California Blacks. His body was later found, stabbed several times, under the prison dome's rotunda just down the hall from the foyer.

An Assault Team was dispatched at 9 p.m., dispersing most of the rioters, and fighting lasted until about 12 a.m., when the riot finally ended. Furnishings within the chapel had been demolished, computer equipment in the prison print shop had been smashed, and equipment in the industrial workshops had also been destroyed. Total damages amounted to $400,000.

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