Melee put down at state prison in Shirley
Inmates at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley trashed a unit at the prison with makeshift weapons following two fights in a melee that had to be put down using a “chemical agent,” corrections officials said.
State police and the prison system’s Special Operations Unit responded to help quell the unrest that lasted into the night.
“Sprinkler heads were broken off, camera systems were destroyed, the computer system in the unit was destroyed along with extensive damage to much of the remaining parts of the unit,” said Department of Correction spokesman Christopher M. Fallon. “Inmates utilized fire extinguishers and other makeshift weapons in order to destroy furnishings, windows, etc.”
Fallon said all officers were pulled out of the area while the situation was being dealt with. He said there were no reports of injuries.
The first fight between “two high-ranking members of a Security Threat Group” in the general population at the maximumsecurity prison broke out before 4 p.m., Fallon said.
As 46 inmates were being urged back into their cells, another fight broke out, he added, and that’s when the prison superintendent declared “a disorder in the P1 unit.”
The “chemical agent” was used at about 7 p.m., Fallon said. That’s when the prison special ops unit was able to “successfully gain compliance of the inmates and secure the unit. Each of the inmates was searched for weapons and examined by medical staff for injury,” Fallon said.
He added those involved in the outbreak “will be housed in various segregation units throughout the agency while the investigation is conducted.” They also face “disciplinary sanctions” and possible charges.
The prison was ordered to remain locked down until the investigation is completed.
Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez is imprisoned at Souza-Baranowski, but prison officials said privacy rules don’t allow them to say if this was his unit.