Bloody brawl puts federal prison in SW Miami-Dade into lockdown

A violent fight that broke out in a building at the Federal Correctional Institution-Miami Saturday afternoon left four inmates injured and the facility in lockdown, sources told NBC6 Monday.

The bloody brawl, during which at least two inmates suffered puncture wounds, is just the latest in a string of problems the NBC6 investigators have uncovered in recent years at FCI-Miami, which houses about 700 low-security inmates just west of Zoo Miami.

More dangerous inmates are supposed to be assigned to medium- or high-security facilities, like penitentiaries.

But those who work on the inside say that is not always happening at FCI-Miami -- and violence can result.

Fights are nothing new to the facility, which in April 2023 saw a riot break out in the exercise yard.

Saturday afternoon, sources told NBC6 that a vicious fight broke out inside one of the housing units between rival gangs.

Jose Rojas, who retired as a federal correctional officer after more than 28 years of service, is a former union leader who still consults with locals.

He said one of the causes of violence at FCI-Miami is the presence of some more dangerous inmates who should be in more secure facilities.

“You got medium- to high-inmates at an institution that’s a low,” Rojas said in an interview Monday, “so you’re not going to have the staffing and then you’re going to have the violence.”

One contributor, correctional officers have complained: inmates have a legal right to a drug treatment program and the only one in the nation for Spanish-speaking men is at FCI-Miami.

“Once they complete the program they stay there," Rojas said, “so you really have a lot of inmates who really don’t belong at that institution.”

Attempts to reach the prison manager for comment on the situation there were unsuccessful Monday. But a whistleblower complaint filed in 2018 that made similar claims about those enrolled in the drug program was found to be unsubstantiated by a Department of Justice internal investigation.

But Rojas and another current officer say the problem is real and it persists.

“You got gangs,” Rojas said. "Usually at a low institution, you don’t have that problem. Usually, at a low institution, you have inmates with probably five years or less before they’re back on the street so they’re going to be on their best behavior, but when you have inmates that have 20 years to life they try to rule the compound, so you’re going to have a lot of predatory inmates.”

He said he’s thankful the battle that broke out Saturday was not worse.

“I’m just glad from the staff point of view there was nobody injured from the staff because that’s my biggest fear," he said. “Staff is going to get seriously injured because they’re not appropriately staffed to watch over these inmates.”

For the prisoners there now, sources give various accounts of the severity of the current lockdown. Sanctions can include no visitation, commissary, phone calls or computer access while inmates remain in cells all day long, showering once every three days.