Two guards were stabbed and at least three inmates were reportedly injured during a riot late Saturday night/early Sunday morning at Ware State Prison in south Georgia.
Officials say the situation started around 10:40 p.m. and was under control with the facility on lockdown by 1 a.m., according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Two staff members received minor, non life-threatening injuries,” the Georgia Department of Corrections said in a statement Sunday morning. “A golf cart was set on fire and several windows were broken, but no major damage to the facility has been reported. Officers deployed non-lethal ammunition, and the incident was brought under control.”
People are skeptical about what officials are reporting after multiple Facebook live videos from Saturday night showed men who were claiming to be inmates at the prison covered in blood. Some of the men in the videos claimed inmates were shot, but the authenticity of the videos have not been confirmed.
Another video that was going viral showed inmates walking around freely with no guards in sight. The man filming told viewers he wanted his family to know he loved them, just in case anything happened to him.
According to AJC, a Ware State inmate was killed two weeks ago in what authorities said was an altercation with another inmate.
Multiple inmates at the prison have recently told the AJC that tensions were running high due to the coronavirus and two people incarcerated at the prison have died of the disease, while 22 inmates and 32 employees have tested positive, Georgia Department of Corrections records show.
Though officials have not spoken on the videos, they continued to go viral Sunday morning. A man who claimed to be a former guard commented on one of the videos that a riot was expected after multiple complaints to the warden about conditions in the prison.
We’ll keep you posted on any updates.
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