OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Law enforcement agencies on Tuesday responded to a disturbance at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre after fights broke out.
The private prison is run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America and houses offenders from California.
Prison personnel responded to multiple inmate fights in various areas of the prison at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, according to Steve Owen, CCA's senior director of public affairs.
The fighting ceased in the afternoon, and staff members were working their way through the lockup to secure inmates and identify the injured, he said.
Many inmates were being treated at the prison for injuries; five were taken to area hospitals for further treatment, Owen said.
No staff members were reported injured, no one was taken hostage, and no offenders escaped, he said.
"At no time was public safety threatened, as staff contained the incident within the secure perimeter of the facility," Owen said.
As a precaution, the prison's special operations response team was activated, along with additional teams and support personnel from other CCA facilities, Owen said.
The facility was placed on lockdown, with inmates confined to their cells and movement restricted.
Joyce Jackson, communications director for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said her agency had little information on the situation.
"Basically, there is supposed to be a disturbance with approximately 80 to 90 Hispanic offenders and they have barricaded themselves in the dining area," she said Tuesday afternoon.
Local law enforcement officers secured the perimeter of the facility, said Greg Williams, the Department of Corrections' administrator of field operations.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol also was summoned for assistance, OHP Capt. Chris West said.
The 2,500-bed medium-security prison houses male offenders.
Copyright 2011 - Tulsa World, Okla.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
