One door left unlatched for a few seconds turned a crowded New Mexico lockup into a nightmare that lasted until Sunday.
The control center's window was supposed to be bulletproof. What everyday safety device did inmates use to smash it?
A fire extinguisher A heavy brass extinguisher shattered the glass within half an hour of the uprising, handing inmates the controls to the locks and doors of the whole Penitentiary of New Mexico in 1980.
Before chasing revenge, rioters broke into the psychology office, raided its drugs, then set it on fire. What were they hoping to burn?
Records blocking their parole The psychology files had been used to keep some prisoners from getting parole, so the rioters made sure they went up in smoke.
Two guards held hostage walked right out of the riot with help from sympathetic inmates. What were they disguised as?
Prisoners Some inmates protected and fed their captive officers, and none of the hostages were killed, even though several were badly beaten.
Inmates spent hours cutting into the cell block of suspected snitches using tools left behind by construction workers. What were they?
Blowtorches The torches had been brought in for renovation work, and while guards outside heard the rioters' plans over the radio, nobody used the cell block's back door to rescue the men inside.
Prison officials had been pressuring inmates to inform on each other for years. What grim title does this riot still hold in America?
Most violent prison riot Officials' 'snitch game' turned inmates against one another, and the result was a riot unmatched in U.S. history for torture and injuries, with at least 33 dead.
