The Willacy County Correctional Center has become uninhabitable after inmates set the facility on fire so Saturday, following disruptive behavior after they prisoners became upset with medical services.

Their complaint centered on corners being cut in the provision of health care and their medical concerns were ignored by the health staff.

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Their refusal to come for breakfast or do work duties, followed by leaving their housing units and going to the recreation yard culminated with the burning of three out of the correctional facility's 10 housing units, reports The Valley Morning Star.

The housing units were Kevlar tents or domes, according to Reuters.

Not all the 2,800 inmates joined the disturbance, said Management & Training Corp. (MTC), the private contractor that manages the facility for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. About 800 or 900 didn't join.

Most of the inmates are classified as low-level offenders, being illegal immigrants. The facility is located in Raymondville, 40 miles from the border with Mexico.

Issa Arnita, spokesman of MTC, said no prisoner escaped the jail's two perimeter security fences and there is no immediate danger to the public. To control the unruly inmates, correctional officers used non-lethal forces such as tear gas.

U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross said that the Willacy inmates would be transferred to other prisons.

FBI spokesman Erik Vasys admits that the 36-hour crisis situation has not been resolved yet, but authorities are moving toward a peaceful resolution with no hostages taken and there are only minor injuries.

Brian McGiverin, prisoner's right lawyer from the Texas Civil Rights Project, said he was not surprised that medical care could lead to a riot since medical care is often grossly underfunded, especially if it is operated by a private contractor.

"It's pretty abysmal with regard to modern standards how people should be treated, pretty much anywhere you go," McGiverin said.

Tagsprison, Texas, illegal immigrants