7 Inmates Dead, 17 Injured In South Carolina Prison Fights

NORWICH, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 25:  (EDITORS NOTE: IMAGES EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 0001GMT AUGUST 26, 2005; NATURAL LENS FLARE VISIBLE IN IMAGE) The sun shines through high security fencing surrounding Norwich Prison on August 25, 2005 in Norwich, England. A Chief Inspector of Prisons report on Norwich Prison says healthcare accommodation was among the worst seen, as prisoners suffered from unscreened toilets, little natural light, poor suicide prevention, inadequate education and training for long-term prisoners. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
NORWICH, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 25: (EDITORS NOTE: IMAGES EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 0001GMT AUGUST 26, 2005; NATURAL LENS FLARE VISIBLE IN IMAGE) The sun shines through high security fencing surrounding Norwi... NORWICH, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 25: (EDITORS NOTE: IMAGES EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION UNTIL 0001GMT AUGUST 26, 2005; NATURAL LENS FLARE VISIBLE IN IMAGE) The sun shines through high security fencing surrounding Norwich Prison on August 25, 2005 in Norwich, England. A Chief Inspector of Prisons report on Norwich Prison says healthcare accommodation was among the worst seen, as prisoners suffered from unscreened toilets, little natural light, poor suicide prevention, inadequate education and training for long-term prisoners. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Seven inmates have been killed and at least 17 others seriously injured amid fighting between prisoners inside a maximum security prison in South Carolina.

Prisons spokesman Jeff Taillon announced the grim outcome after State Law Enforcement Division agents helped secure Lee Correctional Institution around 3 a.m. Monday.

Taillon said no officers were wounded after multiple inmate fights broke out at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. He said 17 of the injured required medical attention outside the prison.

The South Carolina Department of Corrections tweeted that it involved multiple inmate-on-inmate altercations in three housing units.

Lee County Fire/Rescue said ambulances from multiple jurisdictions lined up outside to tend to the wounded. The local coroner’s office also responded.

The maximum-security facility in Bishopville houses about 1,500 inmates, some of South Carolina’s most violent and longest-serving offenders. Two officers were stabbed there in a 2015 fight. One inmate killed another in February.

These deaths at Lee are the most in any South Carolina prison in recent years. Four inmates were killed by a pair of prisoners in the state’s Kirkland Correctional Institution last year.

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