Deadly Smoke

Twenty-eight die in jail fire

When former Mental Patient Robert E. Pates became rowdy outside Amelia's Lounge in Biloxi, Miss., local police charged him with public drunkenness and held him in the only padded cell in the Harrison County jail. "We decided to arrest him rather than let him hurt himself or somebody else," explained William Reynolds, one of the arresting officers. Less than 36 hours later, Reynolds' good intentions turned to tragedy. A fire that may have started in the urethane padding of Pates' cell pumped oily black smoke throughout the jail, killing 28 prisoners and injuring 60 other people, including fire fighters and policemen.

Among those overcome was Jailer Tom Miller, 43, who passed out after answering Pates' early-morning cries and freeing prisoners in the facility's north cell block. He was dragged tp safety, but his keys, needed to free other inmates, were lost, forcing rescuers in tow trucks to wrench doors from walls and bars from windows. "In that south cell block," said Policeman Dan Russell, "nearly all of them were dead." Some inmates tried to save themselves from the deadly smoke by stuffing rags beneath their cell doors. Others, said Prisoner Charlie Acevedo, "wrapped their faces with wet towels or got in a shower and put wet blankets over them. The ones that didn't died."

Pates reportedly told investigators that he fell asleep in his 7-ft. by 8-ft. isolation cell while smoking a cigarette, which he had against jail regulations. The fire was extinguished in seven minutes, but lingering black smoke continued to fell prisoners. Pates, 31, was one of the first to be freed from the north cell block, and escaped with minor burns.

The blaze prompted criticism of Mississippi's Republican Congressman Trent Lott, who represents the Biloxi area. He stepped in last year to halt Justice Department inspection of the state's often overcrowded local jails because he felt it was the state's responsibility.

Last week the Justice Department pledged publicly to investigate conditions at the Harrison County jail, an 18-year-old facility that was filled to near peak capacity the night of the fire.

Pates was charged with capital murder, which carries the death sentence. He was being held without bond and watched around the clock at the Gulfport, Miss., jail. Said Biloxi Policeman Nathan LeBlanc, who dragged at least 14 prisoners from the lethal fumes: "You arrest somebody and put him in jail. You expect him to be all right the next day. Then something like this happens. It makes you feel so bad."

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