Seven inmates dead after riot locks down jail

USA: Worst prison violence in 25 years

Inmates armed with homemade knives fought each other for about seven hours over territory and money, leaving seven dead in the worst US prison riot in quarter of a century.

An inmate who witnessed the violence and used a mobile phone to message reporters said bodies were “literally stacked on top of each other”.

At least 17 prisoners were seriously injured at Lee Correctional Institution, South Carolina, prisons chief Bryan Stirling said.

The first fight started in a dorm on Sunday and appeared to be contained before suddenly starting in two other dorms.

Mobile phones helped stir up the trouble, and state officials urged the federal government to change a law and allow them to block the signals from prisoners’ phones.

“These folks are fighting over real money and real territory while they’re incarcerated,” Mr Stirling

“They fight over real money and real territory while they’re incarcerated”

said. No prison guards were hurt. Mr Stirling said they followed protocol by backing out and asking for support.

It took several hours to restore order, but once a Swat team entered, the inmates gave up peacefully, he said.

The riot was the latest violence in the South Carolina jail system, where at least 13 other inmates have been killed by fellow prisoners since the start of 2017.

It was the most inmates killed in a single riot in the US since nine prisoners and a guard died in 1993 at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, said Steve Martin, a consultant who helps the federal government monitor prison systems.

Hours after the violence started, no correctional officers or medical personnel had attended to the dead or dying, the inmate said.

The dead men, aged 28 to 44, were serving between 10 years and life for murder, burglary and drug trafficking.

The coroner said when he arrived it was a chaotic scene of fighting everywhere.