CLALLAM BAY — One section of Clallam Bay Corrections Center remained on full lockdown Wednesday after a corrections officer allegedly was assaulted by an inmate three days before, a prison spokeswoman said.
The Sunday assault, from which the officer suffered minor injuries, was one of four separate fights at the prison over the weekend, said Fay Gingell, corrections center public information officer.
All but one of the fights involved inmates allegedly assaulting other inmates, Gingell said, and none of them resulted in serious injuries.
The prison’s close-custody units, in which the inmates allegedly involved in the assaults are housed, have been on lockdown since Sunday. The prison’s medium- and maximum-security sections were on restricted movement, Gingell said.
Lockdown confines offenders to their cells at all times, while restricted movement allows inmates out of their cells for limited activities, such as working in the kitchen, Gingell added.
Confined to cells
Corrections center superintendent Ron Fraker said inmates’ recreation privileges gradually will be returned later this week, starting with the medium-security section, with the lockdown and restricted-movement statuses slated to be completely removed by the end of next week.
Fraker said the investigation into the assaults could take between a week and 10 days, since every one of the prison’s inmates — all 874 — will have to be interviewed.
Clallam Bay was not the only state prison involved with lockdowns this week.
The Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla put four units on lockdown after three corrections officers were injured during an altercation allegedly with multiple inmates.
Spokeswoman Shari Hall said the injured officers were taken to a local hospital for medical treatment. No other information was available about the nature of their injuries.
No inmates were seriously injured.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
