Deadly violance erupted Sunday night at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina, leaving seven inmates dead and 17 others injured in one of the deadliest prison incidents in years, AOL reported.
The prison is a maximum security facility that houses nearly 1,600 inmates.
The first incident was reported about 7:15 p.m. on Sunday, according to the South Carolina State Department of Corrections. By 3 a.m. Monday, the prison was under lockdown and order was restored, according to a Facebook post by the department.
The violence spread to three adjacent housing units, lasting several hours.
No correction officers were wounded in the incident, authorities reported.
The Facebook post said: “All SCDC staff and responding law enforcement officers are safe and accounted for.”
The incident is under investigation by the department’s police service unit and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
7 inmates were killed and 17 others were injured overnight at a South Carolina prison — the fourth deadly incident at the facility in the past year https://t.co/8ysXcuzv5G
— CNN (@CNN) April 16, 2018
Autopsies will be conducted on the seven inmates, but the coroner’s initial investigation suggested that most of the deaths were caused by beatings or stabbings.
