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UTAH STATE PRISON — A Utah State Prison inmate was stabbed to death Tuesday during a fight with another inmate, prison officials said.
The fight broke out between two inmates in a cell at the Uinta facility about 2:45 p.m. One inmate, a 23-year-old man, died after being fatally stabbed. His 33-year-old cellmate was taken to the infirmary with minor injuries, Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal said.
The Uinta housing block is for maximum security inmates. Uinta 1 is where death row inmates are housed. Prison officials would not say which Uinta unit the incident occurred in, citing security reasons.
Information about how long the two men had been cellmates was not released.
"Our officers are always monitoring the inmates when they are in their cells and out of their cells, constantly trying to keep watch to prevent something like this from happening, but these things can unfold very quickly," said Brooke Adams, public information officer for the Utah Department of Corrections.
The prison was placed on lockdown following the attack. The Unified Police Department was called to investigate the stabbing, which is a standard procedure for deaths at the prison, Hoyal said.
Police did not identify what kind of weapon was used in the stabbing or how the inmate had it. Investigators are also working to determine what prompted the fight, Hoyal said.
"We don't know who initiated what in this case," Hoyal said. "This is going to be a lengthy process. It's going to take our detectives some time to put the pieces together."
The names of the inmates were not immediately released.
Contributing: McKenzie Romero
