Officers use pepper spray, tear gas to ‘restore order’ at Idaho prison

Three Idaho corrections officers were injured when they responded with pepper spray and tear gas to a suspected “planned group disruption” by prisoners at the Idaho Maximum Security Prison south of Boise.

The Idaho Department of Correction deployed its tactical emergency response team Friday morning at about 11 a.m. after 25 prisoners in two housing units of administrative segregation, or solitary confinement, covered their cell windows. No prisoners were injured in the incident, IDOC spokesperson Sanda Kuzeta-Cerimagic told the Idaho Statesman by email Monday.

Officers used pepper spray on prisoners who refused to comply with orders, she said. Tear gas munitions also were used “to gain compliance in limited instances,” Kuzeta-Cerimagic said.

The three corrections officers were assaulted while extracting prisoners from their cells to “restore order,” she said. They required medical attention.

Prison officials believe the incident was gang related, Kuzeta-Cerimagic said. The group of prisoners in solitary confinement planned it “to force IDOC to segregate housing based on racial gang affiliation,” she said.

She did not immediately respond to follow-up questions from the Statesman about how long the prison’s emergency response team needed to resolve the incident in the two housing units and what, if any, discipline the involved prisoners may face.

The Idaho Maximum Security Prison is in the same complex at Kuna as the Idaho State Correction Center, where an inmate, Lewiston native Milo Warnock, was killed Dec. 10. The investigation into Warnock’s death is ongoing. No charges have been brought yet.