Nine corrections officers were injured and an incarcerated man was briefly hospitalized after a chaotic fight involving a dozen gang-affiliated individuals at a maximum-security prison in Uncasville, Conn., last week.
The altercation, notable for the unusual number of combatants, took place on July 27 around 9:30 p.m. in a gang unit inside the Corrigan Correctional Center. According to a brief statement from a Department of Corrections spokesman, the incident remains under investigation.
“Responding staff found approximately 12 inmates involved in a physical altercation. All combatants were separated by staff and secured,” the spokesperson said in an email. “Shortly after the incident broke out, an incarcerated individual began exhibiting seizure-like symptoms and was transported by ambulance to a local area hospital, where he was treated and returned to the facility the same day”.
Surveillance footage of the incident obtained by CTNewsJunkie shows several staff members, dressed in dark blue uniforms, at the officer’s station in the center of a cell block day room.
They abruptly exited unseen in response to an unseen event before a crowd of staff and inmates dressed in light-colored sweats spilled back onto the screen in a frenzied scramble. As the guards tried to hold back the combatants, other imprisoned men could be seen emerging from the screen, sliding across the tables and into the fray. It took about a minute for the group of officers to pin the men down on the day room floor.
In a statement, Mike Vargo, president of AFSCME Local 1565, said the incident involved at least 14 offenders instead of the 12 cited by the Department of Corrections.
“Nine officers were injured trying to defuse the situation and restore order,” Vargo said. “This incident should serve as a call to action for the Department to reduce inmates’ out-of-cell time and review administrative segregation policies until full staffing of the DOC occurs. These policies, along with staff shortages, are a serious threat to the safety of staff, offenders and our communities.”
The incident comes as preliminary statistics suggest state corrections workers are poised to experience an increase in inmate assaults for the third year in a row.