A Nevada prison official says two inmates were treated at the local hospital, Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, for injuries after a brawl that may have involved as many as a third of the total 145 inmates at the minimum-security prison camp of Carlin, outside Elko.
State Department of Corrections spokeswoman Brooke Keast said Monday that police and sheriff’s deputies from surrounding areas helped quell fighting after it erupted about 9:15 p.m. Sunday night at the Carlin Conservation Camp. “Staff deployed chemical agents to quell the disturbance, which had grown to an estimated 40 inmates, but the fight continued,” stated the Nevada Department of Corrections. “Staff called for assistance. Nevada Highway Patrol, Carlin Police Department and Elko County Sheriff Office SWAT responded to the scene and the fight ended quickly.
Keast says there were no reports that guards or officers were injured.
She says prison officials are investigating what sparked the violence.
A spokesman for Elko County Sheriff Office said to the High Desert Advocate that inmates armed themselves with weapons fashioned from broom handles and towel racks.
The sheriff identified the injured inmates as 31-year-old Oscar Barreras and 39-year-old Sergio Botoyan.
Sheriff Pitts said Barreras was intoxicated and Botoyan may have suffered a skull fracture.
They were treated and released from the hospital, then transferred to Lovelock Correctional Center.
Pitts confirmed that 145 prisoners are held at Carlin Conservation Camp, which has three wings with “dorm-like” sleeping quarters. Inmates are not locked in individual cells.
Approximately 20 inmates were being transported to higher-security facilities the day after the incident, according to the department.
