TRION, Ga. — Twenty-six Georgia prisons remain locked down after a fight among four inmates at Hays State Prison in Chattooga County, a clash state corrections officials now believe was tied to gang activity.
The Georgia Department of Corrections said the altercation happened Tuesday and stayed confined to two dorms at the northwest Georgia prison. Three of the men involved needed hospital treatment for wounds officials described as not life-threatening, and all were treated and sent back to Hays. No employees were hurt.
The agency first announced the lockdowns on Wednesday, pointing only to a rise in what it calls Security Threat Group activity and giving no details about a specific incident. A Thursday update tied the move to the Hays fight and to concerns that it could spark retaliation at other facilities.
Hays and 25 other correctional facilities were placed under the restrictions as a precaution. Among them is the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, the state intake center in Butts County.
Corrections officials said every affected prison will stay on lockdown until further notice, with threat assessments repeated on a regular basis while investigators keep working. The department has not explained how the order changes visitation, programs or other daily routines for the people held inside.
Hays State Prison sits in Trion, a small Chattooga County town in the northwest corner of the state. Because the lockdown reaches facilities far from Hays, its effects stretch across much of the state prison system, from north Georgia to the middle of the state, while the investigation into the fight continues.
Families with relatives at an affected facility can check the department website and the individual prison for updates on visitation before making a trip.
