6 guards hurt in Arizona prison melee

KINGMAN, Ariz. — A half dozen corrections officers were hurt in a disturbance at the Arizona State Prison in northwest Arizona on Wednesday night.

What began as an incident among prisoners erupted about 6 p.m. in the yard of the Cerbat Unit, home to 2,000 minimum-security male inmates, in Golden Valley.

“The altercation involved one inmate being chased by a small group of other inmates,” said Andrew Wilder, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. “During the incident six staff members were assaulted trying to quell the altercation.”

Wilder said all of the injuries were considered to be minor, and five officers were released after treatment at Kingman Regional Medical Center.

Wilder said none of the inmates was hurt. He said the unrest continued until about 10 p.m. because a number of inmates refused commands to return to their housing units.

Investigators are working to identify the inmates involved and determine what motivated the initial encounter.

The same prison is the subject of a $7.5 million claim filed by the family of an inmate who died at a Las Vegas hospital Jan. 19. The claim contends Neil Early, 23, was fatally injured during an inmate assault on Jan. 16.

The same prison, operated by the Utah-based Management Training Corp. through a contract with the Department of Corrections, was also the facility from which three inmates escaped in July 2010. That escape led to the murders of an Oklahoma couple while they were vacationing in New Mexico.