CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) — An update to a story we’ve been following since last year, when a riot broke out at the Cambria County Prison.
Friday was the preliminary hearing for 20 inmates who are all facing multiple charges related to the prison riot at the Cambria County Prison which took place in October.
In October 2020, a group of inmates at the Cambria County Prison began to riot in their unit leading to several law enforcement officials, from local and state agencies to respond to the situation.
Cambria County Warden, Christian Smith says they believe the riot began because of COVID-19 lockdowns which led to high tensions in that unit. Now, 20 inmates are facing charges related to the incident.
“In general, everyone is facing charges of riot, disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and some are facing charges of institutional vandalism,” said Cambria County District Attorney, Greg Neugebauer
During the preliminary hearing Friday, all 20 of the inmate’s hearings were consolidated to one. The preliminary hearing was also held in the Cambria County courthouse by Magistrate judge Fred Creany because of covid precautions. Neugebauer expanded on what exactly the word ‘riot’ means when it comes to the law.
“So, in this instance, what a riot is- is when two or more people commit a course of conduct that prevents official action from occurring. So, in this particular instance, commands were given to the prisoners to return to their cells, they refused to do so and things escalated from there,” said Neugebauer.
At the hearing, video evidence was shown of what took place during the nearly 3-hour long riot. Video evidence shows inmates not obeying correctional officers, CO’s using pepper spray and inmates still not obeying orders. The video then shows some inmates moving mattresses to make a barricade, throwing objects around the unit and doors being tied shut with bed sheets.
“A prison has lots of video cameras. Has very high-tech sophisticated recording abilities and video abilities. All of the charges that were filed were based off of what was captured on video,” said Neugebauer.
According to the Cambria County District Attorney’s office, the inmates facing charges related to the October riot are as follows:
All of the inmates involved waived their preliminary hearing Friday except for Malik Byers.
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