ELOY, Ariz. — A privately operated state prison in southern Arizona is on lockdown as authorities investigate the cause of a fight that left four inmates with injuries described as non-life threatening.
Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder says the fight that occurred Wednesday evening in a recreation yard at the Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy was racially motivated and involved about 80 inmates.
Wilder says officers used pepper spray and verbal commands to break up the fight but that he doesn't immediately have information on the possible racial aspects.
The medium-security unit where the fight occurred houses 928 inmates and is one of two units at the Red Rock complex, which is operated by CoreCivic.
CoreCivic is a Nashville, Tennessee-based private prison company formerly known as Corrections Corp. of America.
