An Arizona state prison is on lockdown after a fight broke out among 200 inmates, causing several prisoner hospitalizations and injuring a staff member’s ribcage.
The fight broke out around 5:30 p.m. in the Santa Rita Unit yard of the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson. It took prison security 30 minutes to contain the fight. One prison staff member was injured in his ribcage. Multiple inmates were also injured in the fight and 10 were hospitalized, Arizona Corrections Spokesman Bill Lamoreaux said in a press statement.
Two inmates were seriously injured with one in the operating theatre and one in intensive care, late Thursday evening, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
Authorities are investigating the cause of the fight, which they believe was a racially motivated brawl between Hispanic and African-American prisoners. Prison personnel are conducting interviews with inmates to figure out what happened.
The Tuscon complex houses 5,150 beds. The Santa Rita room, where the fight occurred, holds 768 beds, 727 of which were filled on the day of the fight.
