Guards at two prisons in Arkansas were assaulted by inmates in separate attacks and hospitalised, the latest in a string of violent incidents at the state's correctional facilities that have included officers being held hostage by prisoners.
The Department of Correction said two officers were assaulted by several inmates at the Varner Unit in Grady, 70 miles (113 kilometers) southeast of Little Rock yesterday. One guard suffered multiple lacerations and the other a single injury that officials did not elaborate on. Both were taken to a hospital.
The assault occurred a little more than two hours after a guard at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker, 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Little Rock, was assaulted by an inmate. That guard sustained multiple injuries to the face and head, and was being evaluated at an area hospital. The department did not release the names of the inmates or the guards.
Department spokesman Solomon Graves said the two assaults appeared to be unrelated. It was not immediately clear what prompted the incidents.
The Maximum Security Unit is the same facility where several inmates last month held three officers after taking their keys and a Taser. They released them after three hours and surrendered.
In another incident, a guard at Tucker Max fired three warning shots into the air in July after two guards and an inmate were attacked there.
The violence at Arkansas' prisons has prompted investigations by the Correction Department and State Police. Three inmates were injured earlier this month at the Cummins Unit in Grady after a disturbance that included prisoners breaking windows and damaging surveillance equipment.
Officials are also investigating an inmate's death last month that stemmed from an assault in July at the Tucker Unit, which is a different facility than Tucker Max.
State Police last month said they had more than two dozen open cases involving assault or battery by inmates on guards or fellow inmates. A State Police spokesman did not have an updated number of incidents under investigation yesterday. Gov.
Asa Hutchinson has said he expects disciplinary action will be taken against employees at the Maximum Security Unit after the July and August incidents, but that he still has confidence in Correction Department Director Wendy Kelley.
Kelley told lawmakers last month that both incidents at Tucker Max began when inmates managed to escape solitary fenced-in areas during their recreation breaks.
The department has said it will replace the chain-link recreation areas and has taken temporary steps to strengthen the cages at the unit, along with adding more security measures during recreational periods.
Varner is one of four prisons where Arkansas lawmakers approved raising hazard pay for officers and employees, a move correction officials said was needed to fill vacancies. A lawmaker repeated her call for answers from prison officials on what's caused the recent disturbances after yesterday's assaults.
"Apparently something is not being attended to and we need to know what it is," said state Sen. Joyce Elliott, who co-chairs a legislative committee that oversees prisons. "This has gotten to be an issue of safety for everybody concerned within the system.
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