PENDLETON, Ore. — Oregon authorities still don’t know what set off a series of inmate brawls at the state prison in Pendleton, so they’re continuing a lockdown and have canceled prison visits for Wednesday.
The fighting started at dinnertime Monday in the dining room at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution, the Oregon Corrections Department said. More fights came later. Forty-six inmates have been placed in disciplinary cells.
Prison spokesman Ron Miles said Tuesday that investigators were “getting too much mixed info” about what started the fights, the East Oregonian reported.
Two staffers were injured and several inmates were bruised, Miles said. One inmate required treatment at a hospital.
On Tuesday evening, the east side of the prison went into a modified lockdown, which allowed inmates to use showers and watch TV in day rooms, Miles said. The west side remained under tight control.
The prison is a medium-security facility with 1,700 men in custody.
Miles said the 46 men involved in the fighting have been assigned one- or two-man cells in the disciplinary segregation wing. In the immediate aftermath of the fights, authorities had to ensure they weren’t putting adversaries in a single cell.
Miles said the prison looks at inmates’ histories and even questions the men as to whether they will be able to cohabit peacefully.
“In some cases, it’s known associates, someone they may already have some relationship with,” Miles said.
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