LAWRENCE COUNTY 4 jail inmates face charges of rioting

The men were sent to the jail after assaulting people at a local youth detention center, the warden said.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Four Lawrence County Jail inmates are accused of beating on other inmates and intimidating others at the jail late last month.
Warden William Hall said that corrections officers were able to stop the men within five minutes of the attacks and that no one was seriously injured.
All four face charges of rioting, criminal conspiracy to riot and disorderly conduct filed Friday by New Castle police.
Who they are: The men are Maurice Byarm, 18, Ameen Gordon, 20, Keith Garven, 18, and James McCray, 18.
All four are Philadelphia natives who came to the jail after being charged with assault at the Youth Development Center in Shenango Township. They have been in a restricted jail unit since the episode occurred Feb. 21, Hall said.
"I commend the officers on that shift for getting control of the situation in a matter of minutes," the warden said.
Hall said all four prisoners came to Lawrence County Jail separately over the last five months from the YDC, a state-run youth detention center. All four have various assault charges pending and were in jail waiting hearings, he said. The detention center houses offenders accused of juvenile crimes, who can remain in the YDC up to age 21.
Regularly at YDC: Hall said the men didn't say why they started fighting with other inmates, but he told corrections officers they were "rioting out."
"They claim they do this normally at the YDC," Hall said. "They put on their shoes and all their clothes and as a group they go around and try to mainly intimidate the other inmates."
Police said the men attacked another inmate for some unknown reason and as they continued through the cell block they tried to fight anyone they came across.
They attacked four inmates who were playing cards at a table, and several other inmates fought back, police said.
James Johns, acting director of the Bureau of State Children and Youth Programs, the agency that oversees the YDC, said that he was aware of the Feb. 21 episode at the jail, but that he had never heard the term "rioting out" as the men described it to Lawrence County officials.
"Kids act out. Yes, kids are aggressive and assault the staff and other kids [at YDC.] That's why these individuals were in that facility," he said.
Johns said they regularly call local and state police when someone is assaulted at the facility, and charges are filed.
No details: Johns said he could not release details of why the four men were being detained at the Shenango Township youth center.
All four could face a maximum penalty of seven years if convicted of the rioting and the criminal conspiracy charges, District Attorney Matthew Mangino said.
Preliminary hearing dates have not been scheduled yet.