Roof at correctional center in Diboll collapses

Authorities say no inmates have life-threatning injuries

DIBOLL, Texas – A ceiling collapse at an east Texas prison facility injured 19 inmates Saturday, hurting one of them critically.

The collapse happened around 11:30 a.m. at the Diboll Correctional Center, a privately run facility that houses minimum security inmates for the state of Texas.

According to Management and Training Corporation, which manages the facility, the collapse happened in the day area of a wing that houses a total of 86 inmates. The day area is described as the housing unit's open space. It is surrounded by individual cells that house inmates.

Major Ken Montgomery with MTC said there were some inmates in the day area at the time of the collapse. Nineteen inmates were taken to area hospitals to be treated for various injuries. While most injuries were described as minor, one of the inmates was flown to a Houston hospital in critical condition.

A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said as a result of the collapse, 85 inmates were being transferred to another unit in Huntsville. "The ceiling is in the middle of the day room and it wouldn't be safe to keep them in there at this point and time," said Montgomery.

Montgomery said TDCJ staff were on-site and were trying to determine the cause of the collapse.