13 Wake Inmates Charged in Jail Riot

RALEIGH, N.C. — Thirteen inmates have been charged in connection with attacks on three detention officers after a riot at the Wake County Jail late Tuesday night.

The incident was still under investigation Wednesday, but authorities said the riot apparently began when two inmates, identified as Renaldo Luis Negron, 24, of Raleigh, and Idriese Sabour Turner, 18, became upset about laundry service and assaulted a detention officer.

"When they're confined, their tempers just get the best of them," Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said. "They can't have the best of two worlds. This is not a hotel."

Kenneth Ackerman was transported to WakeMed with minor injuries and later released. Arrest warrants indicate he received eye injuries, cuts and bruises to the face.

Two other officers, Michael Hayes and Lonnie Johnson, were struck in the face and body while attempting to break up the fight, but did not require medical treatment, according to warrants.

Ackerman has been with the Wake County Sheriff's Office for six months, Hayes for 18 months and Johnson for 18 years.

Others charged include: Cedric Tyler Armstrong, 22, of Zebulon; Reginald Glenn Badgett, 22, of Raleigh; Andrew Deshwan Canty, 20, of Clayton; Jason Lameek Chandler, 19, of Raleigh; Kwesi Nuchrim Holloway, 34, of Raleigh; William Henry Holloway Jr., 32, of Raleigh; Demetrius Lee Morgan, 18, of Raleigh; Christopher Lee Shire, 33, of Raleigh; and Jamal Lamont Sims, 19, of Zebulon.

Two other inmates also face charges. One is a federal prisoner being held temporarily at the center, and it was not immediately clear what charges the other inmate faces.

There were 41 people in the eighth floor cell block, which is made to hold 24 people, and four detention officers working the floor. Seventeen of the inmates were temporarily sleeping on the floor because of construction on the fifth and sixth floors of the jail.

But it was still too early to determine whether overcrowding was a factor in the riot, Harrison said. He said he would also review safety procedures.

"There may be something I need to change, but right now, I don't see where I'll be making drastic changes," Harrison said.

Overcrowding has long been a problem at the jail – it was at its capacity of about 480 on Tuesday with 577 inmates – but Harrison said the situation has improved since an jail annex with 416 beds opened on Hammond Road in May 2006.

The annex, however, is not a maximum-security facility, meaning only inmates facing certain misdemeanor charges are held there. The Wake County Jail is the only maximum-security facility in the county, Harrison said.

Andrew Canty was in the jail because he is accused in a high-profile murder case of conspiring with a woman in the Dec. 18, 2005, death of her husband, a Naval reservist who had recently returned from Iraq.