Shakedown at Department of Corrections facility turns up sharp weapons and more

A cache of weapons, flammable materials, and suspected explosives. 

All found inside the Department of Corrections Mangilao facility during a shakedown has raised urgent security concerns. The seizure comes at the close of Corrections Week, which began with a federal investigation involving corrections officers. 

KUAM spoke with the Director of Corrections about the ongoing criminal probe.

About 2 p.m. Thursday, corrections officers conducted a shakedown inside The Dome, one of the housing units at the adult correctional facility in Mangilao.

“Just that these security shakedowns—they keep the inmates in check, just in case they are trying to have contraband. We're always looking for that,” said DOC Director, Fred Bordallo. 

Bordallo said officers acted on information about possible contraband stashed elsewhere in the facility but due to the ongoing investigation involving the Guam Police Department and federal agents from the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, he's unable to disclose the exact location.

“A lot of the contraband, as you can see that we shared with kuam—a lot of that was flammable and some explosives. That's alarming. With that amount and size, it appears that the inmates were stocking up in this one area,” said Bordallo. 

Photos from the seizure show the scope of what was recovered: sharpened weapons, mobile phones, drug paraphernalia, cans of butane, and even power tools, items that could have had dangerous consequences.

Even more alarming is what that contraband may have been intended for.

“Were they going to use it for a mass riot? use it for a mass escape? And of course, worst-case scenario—we have inmates in our facility that are in protective custody, our government witnesses too. and the area is secured from the general population,” added Bordallo. 

While no internal affairs investigation has been launched within DOC, Bordallo says the department is monitoring who had access to the area.

“i have them standing by with this case, because we are looking at the individuals assigned to the housing unit,” Bordallo said. 

The discovery comes at the close of Corrections Week, which began with news of a federal investigation involving a DOC officer. It's been a challenging week for the department, but Bordallo says the actions of a few don’t represent the many.

“A majority of our officers and staff are walking a straight line doing their jobs, being professional, someone's misconduct does not define the entire organization,” said Bordallo. 

On Monday, KUAM will have more about what steps are being taken to tighten security, and what this means for the DOC moving forward.