Warning shots fired in assault at state prison

Three warning shots were fired by correctional officers responding to a reported stabbing in a solitary confinement area at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker last month, according to a prisons spokesman.

Two correctional officers were assaulted trying to handcuff an inmate, but neither they nor the stabbed prisoner needed outside medical attention, the spokesman said.

The Arkansas State Police is investigating the July 22 incident, but the Department of Correction says it was not informed of the shots fired until it was reported Monday by the Arkansas Times. At least two inmates made it out of their single-man cages in the prison’s isolation recreational area, according to Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves. From there they were able to breach the cage of a fellow inmate, who was stabbed.

Correctional officers responding to the incident were assaulted as they attempted to handcuff one of the out-of-bounds inmates. That’s when the three warning shots were fired, Graves said. The injuries suffered by the officers and the inmate include cuts, lacerations, abrasions and bruising, according to a statement Graves released Tuesday.

It’s unclear what kind of weapon was used in the stabbing, he said in a later phone interview. Corrections officers were able to get the situation under control and return the prison to normal operations, Graves said. State police were called “immediately” afterward, he said. The call to state police came in at 9:10 a.m. Saturday, July 22, according to agency spokesman Bill Sadler.

Special agents at the Department of Correction are preparing an investigative file to give to the Jefferson County prosecutor.