Authorities are on the scene of an apparent riot that broke out at a southern Alabama prison early Saturday morning, where inmates have reportedly been running rampant in the facility, setting fires and overturning beds.
It’s unclear when the fighting broke out and what caused the unrest at the Holman Correctional Facility in Altmore, about 50 miles north of Mobile.
Workers at the prison are not currently accepting any phone calls, but an unidentified dispatcher with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the disturbance at the thousand-bed facility, Reuters reported.
A spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections told NPR the prison warden and a corrections officer were stabbed, but said their injuries are not life-threatening.
News website Al.com posted photos and videos it said showed prisoners setting fired and roaming freely in the facility. Several inmates covered their faces with white towels in the video, which seems to have been shot by an inmate.
The riot reportedly began when a fight broke out between two inmates and escalated into a guard and Warden Carter Davenport being stabbed, sources told NorthEscambria.com
The Alabama Department of Corrections Emergency Response Team (CERT) entered the facility about 5 a.m. and brought the situation under control in short period of time, and the prison remains under lockdown, sources told Al.com.Â
Prisoners posted on social media that the “gates are rolled up,” and that they had overturned beds.
One prisoner posted on Facebook that prisoners were fighting for their lives.
“The police down here beating on and just treating us any kind of way,” the post said. The post has not been verified.
The 1,031-bed facility houses minimum- through maximum-security inmates, including some on death row. It is the only facility in Alabama that carries out executions.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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