By Carol Robinson
Alabama Media Group
ST. CLAIR COUNTY, Ala. — Five Alabama inmates were injured Sunday evening when a fight erupted inside a prison dormitory.
The disturbance broke out about 6 p.m. at St. Clair Correctional Facility, said Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton. Among those involved in the fight, five inmates were taken out of the prison and to an undisclosed hospital.
Horton said the extent of their injuries wasn’t immediately available. There were no corrections officers injured.
The prison is now on lockdown, and an investigation into what started the fight is ongoing. Horton said it wasn’t yet known whether weapons were involved.
In March, an inmate was stabbed by another inmate at the Springville facility. In that incident, a corrections officer was able to move the injured inmate from the housing unit without incident and the inmate was taken to a hospital where he was treated for a non-life-threatening injury.
Also in March, a prison guard was stabbed at St. Clair Correctional Facility. That assault happened about 12:30 a.m. March 7. Officers at the Springville lockup were called to one of the prison’s cell block in response to an altercation between two inmates. The officer was stabbed while trying to detain the inmates. The officer was treated at the prison’s infirmary, and then taken to an offsite medical facility. His injuries weren’t life-threatening.
The St. Clair facility has seen numerous problems in the recent past.
In November 2015, an officer at the prison was taken to a hospital after being stabbed by an inmate. Prison officials said one inmate became physically aggressive and assaulted the officer in retaliation for being ordered to return to his cell block. The officer was trying to control the inmate when two others reportedly attacked him from behind.
Less than one week later, an inmate was stabbed to death Monday in the same facility. In that case, prison officials became aware of a fight between two inmates in the prison’s day room. Timothy Bradford Latham, 30, was stabbed multiple times in the chest by another inmate. Both men were taken to the infirmary, where Latham was pronounced dead at 12:42 p.m.
In April 2015, 12 inmates were treated by correctional medical staff following a riot at St. Clair. Three others were treated in offsite medical facilities, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
A corrections officer was assaulted by an inmate during the morning meal at 4 a.m., and transferred to an offsite medical to receive treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. Following the assault, Correctional Emergency Response Team was sent to the prison, which ADOC said is “standard procedure.” The facility was placed on lockdown and inmates were ordered to return to their cells, according to ADOC, but inmates in one cell block refused. The CERT team entered the block at around 10:15 a.m. According to ADOC, inmates refused a second order to return to their cells and “became unruly and aggressively engaged the response team with physical force.”
The inmates were armed with weapons including locks tied to belts, five knives, and broken broom handles, the department’s spokesperson said.