WILDWOOD, Fla. – A prisoner is dead following a fight between rival gangs at a federal prison in Florida, officials said.
A Federal Bureau of Prisons statement said the fight occurred about 11:45 a.m. Sunday in the high-security unit of the Federal Correctional Complex-Coleman near Wildwood in central Florida.
Troi Venable, 39, died at a hospital after the fight. He was serving a 17-year prison sentence for assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He'd been at Coleman since 2017.
Prison workers union chief Joe Rojas said tensions had escalated between a primarily African American gang and a white supremacist gang. Rojas said Venable was stabbed with a homemade knife.
Prison spokesman Dale Grafton told the Orlando Sentinel that no injuries were reported to staff members.