9 inmates suffer stab wounds, cuts during fight at privately run prison in Mississippi

7/11/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WALNUT GROVE, Miss. — Nine inmates have suffered cuts and stab wounds during a fight at a privately run prison in central Mississippi.

Issa Arnita of Management and Training Corp., which runs the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility through a state contract, says in a statement that a fight broke out about 10 p.m. Thursday among a group of inmates in one of the six housing units.

He says the prison’s emergency response team used chemical agents to gain control of the inmates in the hourlong incident.

He says the unit where the disturbance took place houses 240 inmates.

Nine offenders were injured. Seven were transported by ambulance to a local hospital and three were taken to a Jackson hospital. One injured inmate has returned to the facility.

Arnita says an investigation is underway.