(WWJ) Inmates managed to band together after a fight and prohibit guards from entering a segment of Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, raging for hours and destroying a unit of the prison in the process.
The incident began when a fight broke out inside the facility at about 10:30 p.m. and officers used a Taser on an inmate who was involved in the melee. When that inmate was being taken away, other inmates reportedly managed to leave their cells and force the officers out.
inmates at the 235-bed facility were able to bar guards from entering.
Authorities regained control of the prison in the eastern U.P. after about five hours.
In the meantime, a housing unit was completely destroyed, an official told freep.com, breaking computers and other equipment, smashing windows and even starting a flood.
Byron Osborn, president of the Michigan Corrections Organization, said the prisoner lost consciousness after he was hit with the Taser and some prisoners who saw him wrongly believed he had been killed. About 40 inmates approached guards and said it was 'payback time,' Osborn told freep.
Just before 4 a.m., the Michigan Emergency Response team moved in and secured the facility. U.S Border Patrol and Michigan State Police were involved in providing perimeter security.
No staff members were injured.
This comes a week after a Wayne County deputy was beaten to death by an inmate. That incident is also being investigated.
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