Newsday Reports
BURGIN, Ky. (AP) — Rioting inmates started fires that damaged several buildings at a central Kentucky prison, and some prisoners suffered minor injuries in the melee, police said Saturday.
Dozens of law enforcement officers responded to the disturbance that began around 6:30 p.m. Friday at the medium-security Northpoint Training Center, in a rural area 30 miles south of Lexington. Several hours later, all prisoners were accounted for, said state police spokesman Lt. David Jude.
"We are at a state where the facility is secure," Jude said at a news conference early Saturday morning. "We do not feel that right now there is a current riot in place."
No staff or officers were hurt, he said.
Jude said he could not elaborate on inmates' injuries and said he did not know if any had been hospitalized.
A medical building, kitchen and other buildings were damaged in the fires, according to a news release from the Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet. Flames and smoke could be seen from miles away.
Jude said officials were assessing the situation at the damaged prison, which houses morethan 1,200 inmates. The public safety cabinet said officials were trying to determine whether the dormitories could be immediately occupied.
Officers moved in on the rioting prisoners with tear gas about 9 p.m., the news release said. All inmates were subdued by 10:30 p.m.
Jay Blanton, a spokesman for Gov. Steve Beshear, said the governor had been in constant contact with prison officials.
Northpoint houses more than 1,100 general population inmates in six open-bay dormitories, according to its Web site. Another 60 special management inmates are housed in single cells in a separate structure, and 40 minimum-security inmates are in another separate building.
It opened in 1983 and has a staff of 285.
A prison spokeswoman said earlier Friday that the prison had been on lockdown since Tuesday, when one group of inmates assaulted two others, The Advocate-Messenger of Danville reported.
Mendolyn Cochran said inmates set fires in trash cans in one building, then when they were called to the yard, they continued to set fires and destroy prison property, the newspaper said on its Web site.
Jude said he was unable to confirm that information, and added it was too early to speculate whether the riot had been planned in advance or what type of coordinated effort the inmates might have had.
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