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| Inmates Set Fire to Cells |
| By The Sun Chronicle |
| Published: 03/27/2006 |
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Two Massachusetts inmates set fire in their cells at Norfolk State Prison last week, injuring themselves and forcing the evacuation of 33 inmates in a high-security unit at the prison. One inmate suffered smoke inhalation and was taken by Wrentham ambulance to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and the other suffered a non-life threatening injury, officials said. A correctional officer was injured during a struggle with an inmate after the evacuation, and was treated at the prison health center. The fire at the medium security prison at was reported and was under control within 20 minutes, Fire Chief Coleman Bushnell said. The fire chief and a prison spokeswoman praised the three correctional officers in the unit for their work in extinguishing the fires and evacuating the inmates. Bushnell said the corrections officers wore self-contained breathing equipment and used portable fire extinguishers to contain the fires. “This was not done in very easy circumstances,” Bushnell said. By the time firefighters from Norfolk, Wrentham and Walpole were able to get a hose up to the third floor, the fire had mostly been put out with 11 portable fire extinguishers, Bushnell and a prison spokeswoman said. The fire was located in the segregated unit, officially called the special management unit, with steel cells where the inmates are kept from one another, the fire chief said. Bushnell said one of the cells was gutted and the other sustained minor damage. Contents of the cells, including toiletries, books and bedding burned in the fires, the fire chief said. The cause of the fires was under investigation by the state fire marshal's office. Inmates are not allowed to have matches or lighters. |
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