(Reuters) - A Nevada maximum-security prison went into lockdown after a brawl that left three inmates dead and nine others hospitalized, officials said.
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo’s office said the brawl on Tuesday was gang related, Fox channel KVVU-TV in Las Vegas reported.
The deadly melee broke out on Tuesday afternoon at the Ely State Prison in a rural mining town some 250 miles north of Las Vegas. The prison, the state's only maximum security facility, is also the site of its death row.
No corrections officers were injured in the fight, officials said in the statement, which did not provide a cause for the fight or say how many others may have been injured.
The nine inmates who were hospitalized were stabbed, ABC affiliate KOLO-TV reported.
A spokesperson for the Nevada Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to phone calls and email seeking more information.
It was unclear if the prison remained on lockdown on Wednesday, but the Department of Correction's website said that visitations were canceled indefinitely at all state prisons.
Prison officials were concerned about retaliation, CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reported.
The Ely prison can hold 1,183 inmates and has more than 400 employee positions. Nevada currently has 60 inmates on death row at the facility, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
There have been 21 deaths across all Nevada prisons this year, according to the state's website, including two at the Ely prison.
The prison was the site of an inmate hunger strike in 2022, staged by dozens of prisoners who protested unsafe conditions and inadequate food.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Leslie Adler)
