Herald staff
MONROE — Things have been quiet at the Washington State Reformatory so far this weekend after a fight during an intramural soccer game Thursday night.
"We have (inmates) on a modified lockdown right now," said Willie Daigle, associate superintendent of the Monroe Correctional Complex, which includes the reformatory.
Prison staff segregated about 18 inmates involved in the fight, but discovered some who managed to escape their notice. Staff members reviewed a videotape of the sports field and "saw some guys who got away before we could get everybody," Daigle said.
Those involved in the fight face disciplinary action, which could include moving some inmates to different cells or possibly transferring some to other prisons, he said.
The reformatory likely will remain under modified lockdown through the weekend. Some dining schedules have been changed, and authorities will review the situation over the weekend, then resume normal operations Monday.
The fight apparently started when a spectator mouthed off to someone on the field, who responded with, "What are you going to do about it?" and the fight was on, Daigle said.
At the same time that corrections officers were breaking up the fight, a 25-year-old inmate from Lynnwood attempted suicide in a segregation cell where he was being held for refusing to take medication to treat schizophrenia.
The man managed to cut his arm, slicing an artery, and bled profusely. He was treated at Providence Everett Medical Center’s Colby Campus and returned to the prison. He remains in isolation in the reformatory’s hospital unit and is on a suicide watch, Daigle said.
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