[This is a new feature in PLN which will provide short news items related to prisons which while interesting are not big enough to make up an article. If you like this feature let us know and send us news clippings of interest.]

17 Dec 1993, Moreno Amud the warden of a maximum security prison in Mexico was arrested on corruption charges after a riot left 15 prisoners dead and 11 injured. The riot occurred after prisoners attacked a group of prisoners that had been extorting and threatening them. The charges against Amud claim that he knew of the extortion activities but covered them up in exchange for bribes... 13 Nov. 1993 , a search of the Carandiru prison in Brazil, which holds 4,850 prisoners, led to military police finding over 350 knives and edged weapons. They also found duplicate keys to the prison, alcohol and drugs. A month earlier prisoners had taken 27 guards hostage to protest cell searches... 19 Jan. 1994 , Michael Mahoney, a prison industries supervisor at the Washington State Reformatory in Monroe, WA was charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with second degree child molestation. Prosecutors claim that Mahoney, 48, fondled a 13 year old girl who stayed at his home. Questioned by police, Mahoney did not deny the sexual contact with the girl but claimed he did not initiate it... 23 Dec. 1993 , a judge visiting a prison in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, was attacked and stabbed four times by a prisoner. The judge was investigating prison conditions and was accompanied by the prisoner's lawyer. Prison officials promised to investigate why the attacker was out of his cell... 17 Dec. 1993 , 23 prisoners escaped from the Sao Paulo, Brazil, jail via a tunnel. Two of the escapees hailed a taxi. unfortunately for them, the taxi was driven by a moonlighting prison guard who held them at gun point and returned them to the jail. The other 21 escapees remain free... 11 Dec. 1993 , Carroll Hubbard, U.S. Congressman from Kentucky became an FBI informant to investigate bankers and businessmen who contributed to his campaign. He did so to avoid his own prosecution on misuse of campaign funds. "For more than six months, I was an FBI slave," he said... 22 Oct. 1993 , Ramon Padilla, a Washington state prison guard was charged in Yakima county with three counts of second degree rape, two counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of indecent liberties. The charges arose after he posed as a policeman and allegedly forced four Yakima prostitutes to have sex with him. The news report is unclear if this occurred in separate incidents or all at once... 20 Dec. 1993, Daniel-Salustiano da Costa was killed in a mass escape from the Sao Paulo, Brazil, jail. The prisoners overpowered jail guards at knife point, seized their keys and opened the cell doors and escaped. Upon hearing an ambulance siren Salustiano turned his head to look and ran into a light post which killed him. This was the third jail break in three months.

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