The brawl pitted 9 inmates against 4.
Exterior of Hampden County Correctional Center at Stonybrook in Ludlow.LUDLOW - A gang-related brawl amongst inmates at the Hampden County Correctional Center at Stonybrook in Ludlow on Sunday night sent an inmate to the hospital for treatment and resulted in the lockdown of the pod in which it occurred.
Richard J. McCarthy, public affairs officer for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, said the brawl pitted nine against four. He credited Correctional Officer Daniel Daoust with striving to quell the fight until special operations personnel arrived less than a minute later.
“He interceded to try to quell it to the extent that more injury didn’t come to those who were outnumbered,” McCarthy said, adding that Daoust, who is “a fairly new officer” and other responding correctional officers were not injured.
The pod was locked down “for a day or two” and the injured inmate has since returned to the facility, McCarthy said.
Investigators have determined that the brawl was gang-related and the facility has taken measures to counter the problem. The 13 inmates involved are now in segregation, McCarthy said.
A smaller gang-related fight, involving seven inmates, occurred at the facility early yesterday afternoon. No injuries were reported and the pod did not go into lockdown, McCarthy said.
“It’s a fluid situation,” McCarthy said of the department’s attempt to keep abreast of gang ties and affiliations within the jail.
The facility currently contains some 1,062 inmates who live in 18 different pods or housing units, McCarthy said.