Prison remains on lockdown after altercation

HINTON, Okla. (AP) _ A private prison in Caddo County remained on lockdown Saturday after a fight broke out that sent five inmates to the hospital, prison officials said. <br/><br/>A fight involving 25

Saturday, July 22nd 2006, 6:21 pm

By: News On 6

HINTON, Okla. (AP) _ A private prison in Caddo County remained on lockdown Saturday after a fight broke out that sent five inmates to the hospital, prison officials said.

A fight involving 25 to 30 inmates broke out about 6:55 p.m. Friday at the Great Plains Correctional Facility, Warden Sam Calbone said in a statement issued Saturday.

Five inmates were injured in the melee and transported to a hospital in El Reno. The injuries were minor, and all of the injured inmates were returned to the prison after being treated, Calbone said.

Order was restored quickly, and no staff members were injured, Calbone said.

Jerry Massie, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said a fight was reported in one housing unit at the prison, which houses about 250 minimum and medium security inmates.

The disturbance is not the first at the facility. Inmate Pedro Posadas, 32, was killed on March 4, 2005, in a fight with another inmate at the private prison.

The prison, owned by Cornell Corrections Inc. of Houston, was fined by the Department of Corrections in May 2000 for alleged security breaches that allowed an inmate to escape the month before.

The $304,000 penalty was at the time the largest ever assessed against an Oklahoma private prison.