CLALLAM BAY — An inmate serving a life sentence at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center has been taken to a Seattle hospital after a fight with another inmate, said Jeremy S. Barclay, state Department of Corrections communications director.
“It was an inmate-on-inmate fight, and [corrections officers] contacted local law enforcement” at 5:34 p.m. Friday to report it, Barclay said Saturday afternoon.
The prison was not placed on lockdown during or following the incident, Barclay said.
Blake Pirtle, 47, was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for medical observation and remained there Saturday, Barclay said.
“He is at Harborview under the custody of the Department of Corrections,” Barclay said.
The name of the second inmate has not been made public.
Pirtle was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the May 17, 1992, robbery of a Spokane Valley Burger King where he once had worked, according to The Seattle Times.
According to court documents, Pirtle beat employees Tom Folsom and Dawnya Calbreath with a paint bucket before slitting their throats with a bread knife.
A federal appeals in December 2002 overturned Pirtle’s conviction, saying he had ineffective legal help.
His sentence was converted to life in prison without parole in 2003, and he began serving his new sentence in July of that year, Barclay said.
The cause and instigator of Friday’s altercation is under investigation, Barclay said.
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Reporter Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56650, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
