Seven inmates just died at one of South Carolina’s most violent prisons

Seven inmates were killed after riots broke out Sunday at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, home to some of South Carolina’s most violent inmates, prison authorities said Monday.

Another 17 inmates required outside medical attention, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections. Violence erupted at the maximum security prison just after 7 p.m. local time Sunday night, and lasted until almost 3 a.m. Monday.

State Law Enforcement Division officers were called on to help secure the facility.

Jeffrey Taillon, communications director for the South Carolina Department of Corrections, told CNN the incident involved “multiple inmate altercations in three housing units,” adding that no prison officers were injured.

Ambulances from at least seven jurisdictions lined up outside the prison to tend to the wounded, along with a member of the local coroner’s office. Lee County Fire and Rescue said in a Facebook post that it also assisted with the incident at the prison.

The facility houses about 1,500 inmates, including some of the state’s longest-serving prisoners. In 2015, two officers were injured in a fight with an inmate.

The latest incident comes three weeks after inmates briefly held an officer hostage and took control of part of a dormitory at the prison.

Cover image: Razor wire protects a perimeter of the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C., Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)