Jail Riot

Monday, August 6th 2007, 1:03 pm

By: News On 6

NEWKIRK, Okla. (AP) -- Authorities in Kay County say the county jail is quiet after a weekend riot by up to two dozen inmates that left one person hospitalized and an estimated $50,000 in damage.

Sheriff Everette VanHoesen says overcrowding led to tension which sparked the riot during the evening meal Saturday. He says the riot began when inmates in one pod thought they should be fed first.

VanHoesen says there were just two jailers on duty overseeing nearly 140 inmates in the jail that's designed for 108 inmates.

Deputies from Osage County and police from Newkirk and Ponca City and Oklahoma Highway Patrol officers responded to help bring the inmates under control.

The sheriff says the inmates started a fire and damaged some cell doors and one staff member with asthma was hospitalized after passing out from breathing the smoke from the fire.

Deputies transferred about two dozen inmates to jails in Ponca City and neighboring Osage and Grant counties.