Corrections1 Staff
An overnight riot at the privately owned Hudson Correctional Facility in Colorado has been brought under control, the Denver Post is reporting.
The prison, which holds approximately 750 inmates from the state of Alaska, is owned by Cornell Companies, Inc.
Katherine Sanguinetti, a spokeswoman for the DOC, says the riot occurred at around 1:30 a.m. and was contained to a single housing pod, Channel 9 News is reporting.
Sanguinetti announced authorities had regained control of the prison housing pod around 10 a.m.
Weld County sheriff’s deputies were called to the prison in southern Weld County about 3 a.m. this morning, when 10 inmates apparently took over the pod, and the two officers locked themselves in an office, the Greeley Tribune is reporting.
There were no staff injuries and only minor inmate injuries, but the inmates apparently did damaged sprinklers, setting off a fire alarm.
Undersheriff Margie Martinez said prison officials requested the use of deputies and two dogs in the incident. “At about 6 a.m.,” Martinez said, “we were told the prison had assembled a team to handle a riot, and they said they didn’t need our help anymore.”
Richard Schmitz, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Corrections, said that the Hudson facility is the only prison in the lower 48 states where Alaska sends its inmates. He said that within Alaska, the Alaska Department of Corrections operates approximately a dozen prisons.
Cornell opened the 1,250-bed medium security prison in November.
The Colorado Department of Corrections, which oversees private prisons in the state, has sent six investigators to the prison Wednesday, the Colorado Springs Gazette is reporting.