Chemical Agent Used to Quell Situation at Mass. Maximum Security State Prison

SHIRLEY, MA – Some correctional officers were evacuated from the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum security state prison, Monday evening when more than 40 inmates refused to lock in their cells.

The incident began around 3:50 p.m. in the P1 housing unit of the facility when two individuals began fighting, according to a statement released to media outlets by Department of Corrections spokesman Christopher Fallon. Officers attempted to secure approximately 46 inmates in their cells when an altercation broke out between two prisoners, according to Fallon.

One prisoner was secured, but the remaining inmates resisted, and the decision was made to remove correctional staff from the unit. Once the prisoners were alone, they did significant damage much of the housing unit, including breaking off sprinkler heads and destroying the camera and computer systems with fire extinguishers and makeshift weapons, according to the statement.

Around 7 p.m., the Special Operations Unit released a chemical agent into P1, and the unit was secured. There were no significant injuries to staff or inmates, Fallon said.

The inmates involved will be separated while an investigation is inducted and appropriate disciplinary action is determined.

Convicted killers Aaron Hernandez and Jared Remy are both inmates at the prison, though it is unclear if they are incarcerated in the unit where the situation arose. In his statement, Fallon wrote that he was unable to divulge specific names of the inmates involved.

Hernandez, the former tight end for the New England Patriots, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd and is currently on trial for a 2012 double murder in Boston. Remy, son of Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy, is serving a life sentence for the stabbing death of his girlfriend, Jennifer Martel, in 2013.

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