Prisoner Sets Cell Ablaze, Killing 27 in Miss. Jail

BILOXI,Miss--Twenty-seven prisoners died in their country jail cells early yesterday when a former mental patient set a fire in a padded cell and thick, choking smoke raced through the ventilation system, knocking out the jailer who had the keys.

An additional 61 people were injured, including firefighters, police officers, jailers and inmates of the Harrison County Jail--almost all by smoke inhalation. Hospital officials said 10 inmates and a jailer were in critical condition.

"The ones that stayed alive got wet towels and wrapped them around their face or got in a shower and put wet blankets over them, "said Charlie Achieved an inmate hospitalized for smoke inhalation. "The ones that didn't died."

The former mental patient was being charged with 27 counts of capital murder, said Albert Necaise, the distinct attorney for Harrison County. Those killed included 25 men and two women.

The inmates were asleep when the fire started at about 1.30 a.m. and they were quickly overcome by smoke from the smoldering polyurethane, a synthetic material used as protective padding in an isolation cell, said Harold Windham, an assistant fire chief.

The Justice Department disclosed yesterday that it has been investigating complaints of overcrowding and "environmental deficiencies" at the Biloxi jail.

John Wilson, a spokesman for the department's civil nights division, said the division "will now accelerate its investigation."

Wilson said that the department had received complaints about conditions in the jail at Biloxi and another county jail in Gult port, Miss, and began its investigation in September.

Sheriff Howard I. Hobbs said the fire was started by inmate Robert E. Paties. 31: of Granite City, Ill, who had been arrested Saturday and Sunday on charges of public drunkenness. Pates was incoherent Sunday and deputies held him at the jail because they believed he was danger to himself and others, the sheriff said.

Later Sunday a judge ordered him committed for mental treatment and commitment panes said his family reported Putts had been confined to mental institutions regarded for the past 10 years, Hobb said.

Putes was not seriously hurt was hospitalized observation.

"We understand the inmate may have first ignited the mattress on his bed and this spread to the padding," coroner Ed Little said. "The flames were limited to one cell but the ventilation system quickly carried the smoke to the rest of the building."

Authorities didn't know how he started the fire.

Pates was among 97 inmates and three jailers in the 18-year-old facility, which authorities said had a 102-prisoner capacity.