Prisons, and insane asylums are not the kind of buildings people typically think about when they consider fire safety for the occupants. But humans can die just as easily and quickly in a burning building that is a prison as they can in a factory or a school. In fact, they can die far more easily as they are, in most cases, locked inside the building and can only escape the fire if someone unlocks the doors holding them in. In addition, many older prisons and asylums had little to no fire safety warning or suppression systems and were constructed of wood and other combustible materials. Finally, prisons and asylums were (are) usually overcrowded and those that are in charge of their operation are far more inclined to worry about intentional or accidental escapes of the prisoners/occupants than putting out the fire. All of these factors make fires in these types of building especially deadly for those trapped inside.
There have been many examples of tragic loss of life fires at prisons and what were then called “lunatic asylums.” I included both prisons and asylums in this list because they share so many common fire safety hazards – overcrowding, locked doors/cells, etc. There are scores if not hundreds of possible prison and asylum fires to include in any such list. For this list I chose a few notable, and few lesser known (in some cases, almost completely forgotten) tragic fires.
One thing that seems to never change when it comes to these fires is that reforms are talked about, questions asked, and concerns raised but the underlying causes of these fires such as overcrowding, are seldom addressed. I anticipate the most recent tragic prison fire of just two days ago, the tragic fire in Comayaga, Honduras, which so far has killed at least 355 people, will once again force us to evaluate fire safety in prisons and mental health facilities. And once again, probably nothing will change as a result. Here are ten tragic and horrible prison and asylum fires.
10
Higuey Prison
Higuey, Dominican Republic
On March 7, 2005 the Higuey prison, made to hold 180 prisoners but used to house over 400, was the site of one of the worst prison fires in history up to the Comayaga Honduras prison fire. On that morning there was a riot of the prisoners at the prison. Supposedly the fight started in one wing of the prison between two sets of prison gangs and the guards were unable to control the riot. The prisoners then set fire to mattresses using weed killer to try to keep the guards away. The resulting fire and smoke killed at least 134 people and 26 more were injured. Only about 20 prisoners in the cellblock survived.
9
Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum
London England
The Colney Hatch asylum was one of the earliest psychiatric prisons and was in operation from 1851-1993. Among its famous guests was John Duffy the serial killer, a possible Jack the Ripper suspect, and a woman who dressed as a man to fight on the front lines of World War I. It was a huge, sprawling complex (it was said that to walk the entire asylum took one over five hours) and housed up to 3,500 “patients.”
At around 5:30 PM on January 27, 1903, a steam whistle sounded a fire alarm at the asylum. City residents heard the siren and streamed into the London streets to see the growing blaze take hold of the building. The fire had started in one of the bottom block of wards. Soon the entire southern block, known as X Ward 5 was ablaze. The building was made of wood and the breeze fanned the flames. There were less than a dozen staff trained to fight fires in the prison fire brigade and they were quickly over matched by thee size of the blaze. The flames and smoke spread to X Ward 4 through the long corridor (said to be the longest continuous corridor in London). By the time London city firefighters arrived and were able to get water pressure, it was nearly an hour after the fire started and the entire temporary ward on the south side of the building was destroyed. The corrugated iron roof melted and collapsed. In all, five wards were destroyed. Apparently there were over 600 Jewish women (this was the Jewish ward of the building) in the five wards, but many managed to escape. The death toll was at least 52 people. Londoners were frightened that lunatics had literally escaped the asylum and were roaming the streets.
8
Oakley Training School
Raymond, Mississippi USA
The Oakley Training School is a juvenile correctional facility located near Raymond, Mississippi and it is Mississippi’s sole juvenile correctional facility for children. Today it has a capacity of 150 students. However, it was originally called Oakley Farm and it was a State prison. Built in 1894, it failed due to poor soil in the area the women prisoners were moved to another State prison. But in 1913 it was still the Oakley Prison Farm and also the Mississippi state prison hospital and this is when the fire happened.
It is unclear how the fire started but like all buildings of the time it as constructed of wood and burned quickly. After spending the day working the cotton fields, the prisoners were locked up for the night on the second floor of the two-story prison building. When the fire started, it quickly burned the single stairs leading to the second floor. The prison had no fire apparatus to fight the fire. Local farmers ran to the prison to try to help the guards but nothing could be done. The prisoners screamed and tore at the cell bars, but no one escaped. When the fire ended, 35 prisoners, all of them African American, were dead.
7
Maury County Jail
Columbia, Tennessee USA
The Maury County jail was located in the center of the city of Columbia Tennessee when it caught fire on Sunday June 26, 1977 during visitor’s hour. Before the fire was over, 33 inmates and 9 visitors were dead.
Unlike the older prisons that caught fire, Maury County jail was made of modern, fire-resistant construction – concrete and cinder block with few combustible building materials. However there was no fire alarm system, or sprinkler system, only fire extinguishers to fight a fire if one started. At the time of the fire there were 63 inmates, approximately 20 visitors, and 5 guards in the building. It was visiting hour and the visitors, as was the normal practice, were locked inside the jail with the prisoners.
Though the building was made of fire-resistant materials, the padding in the padded “drunk tank” was flammable – made mostly of PVC and other combustible materials, secured to plywood on the walls. Early that afternoon, a 16 year-old prisoner was moved to the drunk tank. He asked a visitor for a cigarette and the visitor gave him one, as well as his own lit cigarette to light it. At about 1:30 PM, the prisoner started yelling that his cell (the drunk tank) was on fire.
The guards opened the door to the drunk tank to rescue the prisoner (he would live as they dragged him outside) and a wall of flame and dense smoke blasted into their faces and the hallway. Visitors who were not locked in with prisoners quickly escaped but in the confusion, the guard with the keys lost them and they could not be located as the prison filled with black smoke.
Firefighters arrived quickly from the local fire department located one block from the prison, but already the building was filled with black smoke and they could not reach the prisoners trapped in their cells. They did, eventually get inside and put out the fire in the padded walls of the drunk tank. Meanwhile, firefighters using sledge hammers, cutting tools, and trucks and chains, pulled out some of the exterior walls to the prison cells and the few prisoners who escaped death managed to get out through these holes. But before it was over, 42 people were dead, most killed by carbon monoxide and cyanide gas from the burning plastic padding.
6
Saint John City Prison
Saint John, New Brunswick Canada
An almost identical fire to the Maury County jail fire occurred on June 21, 1977 at the Saint John city prison/holding center located inside the Saint John city hall, a 16-story high rise building in the center of the city. The building housed the city and municipal offices as well as the police and a small prison/holding area for prisoners awaiting trial. Again, the building was of modern, non-combustible construction, but contained a padded “drunk tank” holding cell. And again, this is where the fire started.
A prisoner was placed into the “drunk tank” padded cell, and a short time later other prisoners began to yell that there was fire. No one knows how he started the fire but again, as the guards arrived and opened the cell door, they were hit with a flash over of heat, smoke, and flames as the combustible and deadly gases from the burning plastic ignited. This quickly spread smoke through out the prison. Again, the guards managed to drag the prisoner out of the building and he lived, and in the confusion, again, the cell keys were lost, but quickly found. However, as guards attempted to open the metal cell doors to free the prisoners, they found the doors would not open. At first they thought the heat had melted and warped the locks but it was later determined the heat of the fire had slightly warped the metal cell doors in their sliding tracks so the doors would not slide. Firefighters had to use an acetylene torch to get into the cell block to remove the bodies.
Again, the fire itself was small and quickly extinguished, but the smoke contained deadly carbon monoxide and cyanide gas. When it was over, 21 inmates were dead.
Michael Shribak/ Dr. Irina Arkhipova
Frank Fox
Dr. Jan Michels
