A high-security state prison in St. Louis in mid-Michigan was on lockdown Tuesday after three days of gang-related fighting involving dozens of prisoners, a spokesman confirmed.
Michigan Department of Corrections officials say the violence at St. Louis Correctional Facility is not believed to be related to gang warfare at a South Carolina prison Sunday night that left seven inmates dead.
"This one seemed to come out of nowhere" and appears to involve a battle for control over the use of pay phones and terminals that can be used to place store orders and send and receive e-mails with family and friends, spokesman Chris Gautz told the Free Press.
About five prisoners were fighting on Thursday and more than 20 others on Sunday and Monday, with about 50 prisoners involved over the three days and the prison at one point sounding its siren, Gautz said.
Although officials seized five illegal shanks, or homemade knives, at the scenes of the melees, injuries have been limited to bumps and bruises to two prisoners, he said. No corrections officers or other staff members were injured, he said.
Despite the fact only about 50 prisoners were involved in the fighting, all 1,100 prisoners are confined to their cells and stripped of privileges until the lockdown ends, Gautz said. Officials may start trying to release some of the prisoners for the evening meal Tuesday night, he said.
About 20 prisoners have been moved to other prisons so far as a result of the disturbances and about 30 others moved to segregation, Gautz said. St. Louis is located in Gratiot County.
One of the two biggest fights took place in the large exercise yard and the other in an area where prisoners transition from time spent in segregation to a return to the general population.
Gautz said prisoners believed to be associated with gangs have apparently been requiring some form of payment from prisoners wishing to use the phones and terminals used to order store items and send and receive e-mails.
"It's a power thing," he said.
In South Carolina, gangs fighting over territory most likely triggered seven hours of violence that left seven people dead and 17 injured at a maximum security prison containing some of the state's most dangerous convicts, USA Today reported Monday.
Clashes among inmates at Lee Correctional Institution erupted about 7:15 p.m. Sunday, state Corrections Department chief Bryan Stirling said at a news conference. The fighting spread to three housing units, but no officers were wounded, he said.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
