Officials: 13 hurt in Eloy prison riot

Prisoners rioted Sunday at Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy, leaving 12 inmates and at least one guard injured, officials said.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the “inmate-on-inmate disturbance,” which began Sunday morning, according to prison operator CoreCivic.

It took until late afternoon to contain the situation. Special-operations teams worked to secure the prison while police helped protect its outer perimeter and paramedics attended to injuries, police said.

Twelve inmates were taken to medical facilities with non-life-threatening injuries, according to CoreCivic spokesman Jonathan Burns.

One guard had minor injuries, Burns said.

In the hours after the riot erupted, before injury information and other details became publicly available, relatives of guards and inmates frantically tried to get through to their loved ones.

Eloy resident Gloria Park said she “freaked out” when she heard about the riot through Facebook, because her husband — part of the special-operations team — was on duty. When he finally

reached her, he told her no staff had been seriously hurt.

“Being a correctional officer is not easy. Being a spouse of a CO is not easy,” Park said. “We just have to be positive and strong and keep praying that they will come home to us at the end of the day.”

State Department of Corrections and local lawenforcement officials were investigating the prison disturbance Sunday afternoon. Police directed anyone with friends or family at Red Rock to call 520464-3899 for information.