Two inmates involved in deadly prison riot sentenced

Published 12:01 am Thursday, July 14, 2016

NATCHEZ — Two more inmates involved in the deadly 2012 prison riot at the Adams County Correctional Center, including one convicted of murder, have been sentenced to additional prison time.

U.S. District Judge David Bramlette III handed down the sentences Tuesday.

Jesus Beltran-Rodriguez, 38, originally of Tamaulipas, Mexico, was previously convicted of rioting and second-degree murder in connection with the riot. He was sentenced to 240 months in prison.

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Carlos Albert Delgado-Castaneda, 43, originally of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico was previously convicted of rioting and was sentenced to 92 months in prison.

The judge also ordered the inmates to pay more than $1.3 million in restitution jointly and individually, an order that has been given to every inmate sentenced in the case.

The May 20, 2012, riot lasted several hours, and during the riot, inmates stacked food carts in order to access the roof of the building on which several correctional officers were standing as part of their response to the prison disobedience.

One of the guards, Catlin Carithers, who was deploying crowd control gas from the roof, died of blunt force trauma to the head after inmates attacked him.

Inmates assaulted Carithers with their hands, feet and improvised weapons, including a broom and a metal pole, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Lemon said in previous hearings for other inmates.

Several other guards were injured and taken hostage, and dozens of inmates were also injured.

The riot initially started as an organized mass disobedience by the prisoners, who told investigators they were trying to take a list of demands to prison officials to address what the prisoners perceived as issues with food quality, medical care and disrespectful guards.