Officials: Inmates attacked staff members at Nebraska prison
TECUMSEH, Neb. -- Inmates launched an attack that injured three staff members in a maximum-security wing at a southeast Nebraska prison where prisoners rioted last spring, the state Department of Correctional Services said.
An inmate was being escorted inside a maximum-security housing unit at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution Monday afternoon when he struck a staff member, the department said. Three more inmates joined the attack, prompting two other staffers to subdue the inmates. The housing unit was immediately locked down.
A spokesperson for the prison told CBS affiliate KMTV the staff members were taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries after the incident occurred around 3:50 p.m. on Monday.
Nebraska Correctional Services Department spokesman Andrew Nystrom said in a news release Tuesday that the three staff members were treated at a local hospital and released.
In a prepared statement Tuesday, the director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said that he was relieved to hear that the staff involved are home safe, according to CBS affiliate KMTV.
"This incident reinforces the respect I have for all the men and women of the agency," Scott Frakes said. "Each of you accomplishes a vital public service with little fanfare or accolades. You are unsung heroes in my eyes."
None of the four inmates involved suffered any injuries, Nystrom said.
Nystrom declined to immediately answer questions about the prison's population, security, staffing and other issues. He refused to say whether the housing unit was still locked down Tuesday morning.
State officials have blamed low staffing levels and excessive overtime as factors in the rioting that beset the facility for more than 10 hours last May 10. Five inmates were charged in the riot, but no one has been charged in the killing of two sex offenders whose bodies were discovered once order was restored at the facility. Four inmates and two guards were injured in the unrest.
An investigative report released by the corrections department in late June concluded that the riot started after too many prisoners were allowed to leave their cells for medication. There were only 57 staff members at the facility to manage 1,024 inmates when the riot began, and several were working overtime, the report said.
In November, Frakes said prison officials had completed more than a dozen of the 83 actions recommended in the corrections report and were making progress on others. The recommended steps include an analysis for prison staff, additional training and drills, and reviews of responses to prison disturbances.