POINT OF THE MOUNTAIN — The Utah State Prison will remain locked down until Monday following a fight between rival gangs that involved 20 to 30 people.
The fight started Friday afternoon in the day room of one of the medium-security housing units, said Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford.
Ford said he did not know exactly what sparked the fight or whether it began as two individuals fighting and escalated or two large groups began fighting at the same time.
The warden's staff is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Monday to decide whether the lockdown will be lifted, Ford said. Due to the lockdown all visiting at the prison has been cancelled for the weekend.
A few of the inmates involved in the fight suffered scraped knuckles and bruises, but there were no serious injuries and no one required a trip to the hospital, Ford said.
A SWAT team conducted a shakedown of the housing unit after the fight to look for weapons in the inmates' cells. As of Saturday afternoon Ford said he was unaware of any weapons found.
This was the biggest fight at the prison since January 2001 when six inmates were stabbed in a maximum-security housing unit. That fight was also believed to be gang-related.
Ford said the decision to keep the prison locked down until at least Monday was a precaution to prevent further violence.