Eleven days in hell: The 1974 Carrasco Prison Siege at Huntsville, Texas

Abstract

The Carrasco Prison Siege at Huntsville Texas in 1974 was the scene of one of the most brutal attempts by prison inmates to escape by taking staff and inmates hostage. After 11 days holed up in a prison library, the inmates constructed a shield using rolling classroom blackboards. Taking four civilian hostages inside the shield, Fred Carrasco, Rudy Dominguez and Ignacio Cuevas attempted to get to an armored car they thought would be their escape vehicle. When an initial attempt by authorities to topple the shield failed, they had no choice but to charge the escape contraption. Carrasco and Dominguez murdered the two female hostages they were holding. Dominguez was later killed in a fire-fight with the officers and Carrasco took the coward's way out by committing suicide. The third hostage-taker, Ignacio Cuevas, fainted during the melee and was later executed by the State of Texas.

Keywords:

• hostages
• siege