Fight Night at Jail Leaves 7 Hurt

A maximum security wing of the Cook County Jail has been locked down after seven inmates were injured in a gang fight.

Cook County Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Patterson says a brawl broke out Tuesday evening as 36 inmates returned from recreational activities to a maximum security wing.

Patterson says three men were "punctured" by homemade shanks inside a room where inmates gather to watch television. He said they're at area hospitals for non life-threatening injuries.

Four inmates were treated at the hospital inside the jail for head injuries and "puncture" wounds.

"They’ll make a shank with just about anything, recently its been pieces of vents, heating ducts," Patterson said, adding that correctional officers confiscated approximately 1,200 shanks in 2007, and 667 shanks in 2008.

In this instance, one shank was a flat piece of metal, possibly crafted from a window frame, and the second was a 3-inch type pick, maybe made from twisting off a piece of fence.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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