Mountain Institution - March 29, 2008 Riot

March 29, 2008 Riot

On the night of March 29, 2008, a riot broke out that caused the deaths of two inmates and left eleven inmates hospitalized. The hospitalized inmates had overdosed on methadone that they stole after breaking into the prison's Health Care. Convicted child pornographer, Michael Andrew Gibbon (39) was beaten to death (with baseball bats) in his cell while a second inmate, Trevor Wayne O'Brien (25), died of a drug overdose (200 ml of 175 mg methadone, first time he'd tried it) later in hospital. This is not the first time an inmate convicted of sexual offenses involving children has died in this prison facility. The last death involved James Patrick Jones, (55), a man convicted of sex offences involving children was found dead in his cell by prison guards on March 17, 2007.

The riot was initiated by inmates in response to what was deemed extreme measures taken to curtail the drug trade within the prison. Inmates were disgruntled that the new warden, Alex Lubimiv, had restricted visiting privileges. The amount of visitors was limited to 50 at a time, reduced from 250 due to staff shortages. The riot was not planned as a riot to begin with, however the inmates decided there was no room for further discussion with the warden.

Most inmates involved the riot did not want to participate, yet still did. 30 inmates remained peaceful, where 10 or so inmates continued to revolt. Many inmates would not return to their living units and were subsequently charged for participating in the riot.

Michael Gibbon was killed primarily because he was a sex offender.