Two Illinois inmates in a Sunday morning fight at Cook County Jail were seriously injured when they stabbed each other with homemade weapons, authorities said. The incident occurred just before 9 a.m. in a common area of Division 11, a maximum-security section of the jail complex, said Bill Cunningham, a spokesman for the Cook County Sheriff's Police.

“Two inmates began fighting each other and several others joined in based on gang affiliation,” Cunningham said.

The men who started the argument apparently stabbed each other, Cunningham said. He did not know where on their bodies either inmate was stabbed. Both men were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in serious to critical condition, said Josh Dennis, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department.

Several other inmates had minor scrapes and bruises treated by medical staff at the jail, Cunningham said. No jail personnel were injured. The injured inmates—one of which is awaiting trial on an aggravated vehicular hijacking charge and the other accused of murder—were armed with homemade weapons, Cunningham said.

The area where the incident occurred was a day room, an open area where inmates socialize, play cards and watch television. Cunningham said one officer typically monitors each day room. If a fight breaks out, the officer is trained to call for backup to subdue it. It was not clear Sunday morning how long the fight lasted or how many officers were called to the day room.

Cunningham said sheriff's police do not segregate inmates at the jail based on gang affiliation.