One explosion, then another, shook the darkness and blew the prison doors open. Black-clad men in assault gear moved quickly through a pall of smoke. The lives of nine people, maybe dozens more, were largely in their hands.
It was shortly before 4 a.m. Friday. A federal SWAT force was trying to retake a federal prison building where Cuban detainees held nine government employees hostage since Aug. 21.Three minutes after the first blast, the hostages were safe and the inmates at the Talladega Federal Correctional Institution were under SWAT team control.
The scene after the hostages and their captors were removed from the high-security "Alpha" unit showed considerable damage and bore evidence of the magnitude of the forces - more than 700 FBI and Bureau of Prisons officers - called in from all parts of the country to end the siege.
Bricks and mortar from the doors lay around the blasted-open entries. About 30 feet of metal had been torn from the edge of the roof above the doors. The remaining brick around the doors was blackened from smoke.
Warden Roger F. Scott and other officials wouldn't say what type explosive was used. But it evidently was powerful. Minute pieces of glass from the shattered windows of nearby FBI vehicles covered tarmac leading to the unit.
Nearby sat dozens of motor homes, buses, cars and other vehicles of the assault force and hostage support teams. There were at least 10 tents, some containing military cots and other supplies used during the standoff.
One motor home had a sign reading "FBI Control Headquarters," with electronic gear under an outside canopy.
A table under one tent held dozens of non-lethal "flash-bang grenades," and "sting grenades," which contain rubber balls about the size of BBs. Under the table were 15 spare cans with 20 grenades inside each can.
The table also contained two gas shooters, which can send vapors about 60 feet and sting the eyes.
The battle zone appearance contrasted sharply with the well-mowed grass and large plots of flowers and low bushes in the complex, which includes the administration building, dining hall, visiting area and warden's office.
But the lawn outside the formerly besieged unit was littered with tennis shoes and socks from all the 121 Cubans and 18 other prisoners who had been inside. They were taken from the prisoners immediately after they were removed from "Alpha" to make sure they had no weapons in their shoes.
Plastic handcuffs were put on the prisoners, replaced later by metal cuffs. Then leg irons were put on them. At least three guards were with each inmate as they were shuffled in small groups to another building to be strip-searched.
It wasn't immediately clear which inmates were involved in the uprising and which were held against their will, but all were strip-searched.
"We were going to sort them out later," prison spokesman Greg Bogdan said. "You have to remember that the other prisoners were in that unit for disciplinary problems."
After the takeover ended, prison personnel hung a sign over the exit door of the small entry building to the complex with a message for the special rescuer teams:
"Thanks!!! We Couldn't Have Done It Without You."