By Joyce Hensley

Staff writer

UMATILLA An inmate attacked a sergeant at Two Rivers Correctional Institution Wednesday which started an hour-long riot involving nine inmates.

The reasons remain unclear as to why the inmate attacked one of the two sergeants on duty in Unit 9 at the prison.

Thats what were hoping to find out in our investigation, said Aleca Nelson, executive assistant to the prisons superintendent, Bob Schiedler.

The inmate attacked the sergeant with a padlock hidden inside of a sock.

The injured sergeant reached the unit control point and ordered all of the inmates to return to their cells.

All but nine inmates complied and the cells were secured, Nelson said. The cell doors were secured at 9:48 p.m. to provide safety and security for those inmates not involved in the disturbance. The staff remained secure in the housing unit control point.

The uprising was quelled by a prison team trained in emergency control. The inmates gave up without force but not before destroying furniture, ceiling tiles, legal library computers, telephones and sprinkler heads in the day room of the 96-bed unit.

(For complete story see March 6 edition of The Hermiston Herald)