More than 100 inmates at a Washington state prison staged a rowdy demonstration this week after six men there tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said.
The minimum-custody prisoners, at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Snohomish County, gathered in the rear yard of the facility around 6 p.m. Wednesday, the state Department of Corrections said in a statement.
Fire extinguishers were also discharged within two housing units at the prison, creating an appearance of smoke from the outside, according to the corrections department.
More than half of the men obeyed orders to go back inside, but when the others didn’t, officials expelled pepper spray to disperse the group — and then “sting balls” — which release light, noise, and rubber pellets.
No one was hurt, and the situation was placed under control, officials said. An internal investigation will be conducted.
“It is believed at this time that the incident was caused by recent positive test results of COVID-19 among six men within the Minimum Security Unit,” the department said in the statement.
Those inmates were moved to the facility’s isolation unit Sunday, where the health care team is treating and monitoring them.
Two of the men, previously housed in the minimum-security unit, had just tested positive on Tuesday, but they had already been moved to isolation before the tests came back, officials said.
The facility was the first in the state’s prison system to report a COVID-19-positive inmate.
