By Floyd Ingram
Chickasaw Journal
HOUSTON – A fight at the Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility on Sunday night involved about a half-dozen inmates and prompted the prison to go into lockdown and call in officers to settle inmates down.
Chickasaw County Sheriff Jimmy Simmons said a fight broke out about 10:30 p.m. and staff, deputies and police had the situation under control within about 30 minutes.
“People on TV were calling it a riot, but it wasn’t,” said Simmons. “We had a boy pushing some people around, and they ganged up and started fighting. We stopped it quick and then stayed on the scene until about 2 a.m. to make sure nothing started back up.”
Warden Brand Huffman said two inmates were taken to local hospitals with a broken hand and to receive stitches, and a third was sent to be checked out Monday morning. He said no staff, deputies or police were hurt in the incident.
Huffman said the incident involved one of the five pods at the facility. A pod holds about 50 inmates.
The warden said while there were several prisoners surrounding the half-dozen or so instigators – “throwing chairs and acting crazy” – he said it was a relatively small skirmish.
“It wasn’t a riot, it was a disturbance,” Huffman said.
He said the entire facility was searched Monday morning with only two cell phones seized.
Simmons said those involved in the brawl will face more charges and ultimately more time in jail.
“We know who started it and who all was involved,” said Simmons. “We will either charge them, transfer them or put them in lockdown for their own safety.”
Huffman said the facility remained secure throughout the incident, and getting the manpower to the site to quell the disturbance took most of the time.
“I want to point out the community was never in any danger and no one was ever even close to escaping,” Huffman said. “Our guys have been trained to handle this kind of situation, and I think they did a good job.”
The Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility scored 99.75 percent and the Chickasaw County Jail scored 100 following an audit last week by the American Correctional Association.