A prison complex in Tuscon, Arizona is on lockdown after a fight broke out among 400 inmates, according to the Associated Press. A Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux told reporters that its staff was able to quickly stop the fight that broke out at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday at the Whetstone Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex.
The spokesman said that two staffers suffered minor injuries; 17 inmates were taken to area hospitals with injuries. The extent of their injuries was not immediately available.
Visitations for the day were cancelled for the entire prison after the fight, according to the AP. The prison is investigating the cause of the fight. The Whetstone Unit will remain locked down during the investigation; Nearly 1,250 prisoners are housed in the Whetstone Unit. No prisoners from the prison's other seven units were involved in the fight, according to the Tucson Sentinel.
300 white and Mexican American inmates fighting with about 100 African American prisoners, said Corrections Department spokesman Bill Lamoreaux.
"Additional inmates are being assessed and treated on-site," Lamoreaux said.
The Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson has a 5,150-bed capacity across minimum, medium and close custody levels, Lamoreux said. The prison currently houses 5,134 inmates, 1,242 of them in the 1,250-bed capacity minimum-security Whetstone Unit.
A fight between 200 inmates broke out in the Santa Rita Unit of the same prison in September, according to a report by Domenico Nicosia for The Arizona Republic. On that occasion, Lamoreaux said that the fight was under control within half an hour.
Despite the speed of the response, two prison officers, as well as, 11 inmates had to be hospitalized as a result of their injuries.
