CELLPHONES BLAMED IN FATAL PRISON RIOT

Inmates armed with homemade knives fought each other for more than seven hours over territory and money, leaving seven of them dead in the worst U.S. prison riot in a quarter-century, officials said Monday. A prisoner who witnessed the violence said bodies were “literally stacked on top of each other.”

At least 17 prisoners were seriously injured at Lee Correctional Institution, said South Carolina prisons chief Bryan Stirling, pictured. The first fight started about 7:15 p.m. Sunday before fighting broke out in two other dorms, Stirling said.

Cellphones helped stir up the trouble, and officials urged for a change to laws to allow them to block signals so that prisoners can’t use cellphones.