News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan

Repairs at Upper Peninsula state prison could last a week

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Courtesy mco-seiu.org

It could take a week to repair damage to a housing unit at an Upper Peninsula state prison. That's after a group of inmates rushed guards and took control of the unit for about five hours Sunday night.

The incident happened after an inmate involved in a fight was tased and taken to the hospital.  Byron Osborn is with the Michigan Corrections Organization, the union that represents corrections officers. He says officers on duty were threatened.

"You took one of us out and now we're going to take you guys out so it was probably that mob mentality that gets going when they get all in a group like that and they're angry," said Osborn.

The 236 inmates have been temporarily relocated to other prisons.  A Corrections spokesman says they're working to identify who was responsible so innocent inmates won't face consequences.

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