By Jane Wester
The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina state prison was on lockdown Monday after a series of fights broke out Sunday, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety.
DPS spokesman Jerry Higgins did not say exactly how many inmate-on-inmate assaults happened at Alexander Correctional Institution Sunday, but he said two inmates were sent outside the prison so their non-life-threatening injuries could be treated.
One unrelated assault involved a correctional officer, he said.
The officer suffered injuries to the face, which do not appear to be life-threatening, Higgins said.
At 4:30 p.m. Monday, the prison was still on lockdown, Higgins said.
Alexander Correctional Institution is in Taylorsville, just over an hour northwest of Charlotte.
In the first seven months of 2018, the state reported 245 assaults on prison workers, the Observer reported. Thirty-two of those attacks involved weapons.
Five prison workers were killed in 2017, leading to increased attention on staff shortages and safety issues at the state’s prisons.
©2018 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)