Prison officials looking for what triggered riot

About 45 inmates took part in the fight, some using weapons made from broken mop handles and other materials, said Warden Greg Fizer of the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson, 10000 S. Wilmot Road.

The prison will not separate Mexican-Americans and Mexican nationals and will instead look to the root causes of the fight.

"We will not segregate. It has not served us well. What will work is that we find out the causes and eliminate individuals that have persisted upon having engaged in this type of behavior, removing them from the rest of them and working with those who remain to get along in civil, productive ways," Fizer said.

Friday's fight took place in the prison complex's Santa Rita Tent Unit, where roughly 860 inmates are not kept in cells and have some freedom of movement. The fight occurred in one of Santa Rita's five living units.

Twenty inmates were injured, five of whom were hospitalized. Four had been released from the hospital as of Saturday afternoon. The inmate remaining in the hospital did not have life-threatening injuries, Fizer said.

No prison staff members were injured and staffing levels did not contribute to the incident, he said.

As a result of the fight, the entire prison is under lockdown and visitation is canceled this weekend.

"What we are going to engage in at this point is a full operational review of the Tucson complex prison," Fizer said.

The inmates involved in the fight will remain in a restrictive environment while their actions are investigated, he said.

Friday's fight and last week's previous fight, which broke out Tuesday morning, did not occur in the same place. The previous fight began in the dining hall and extended to the recreation field.

Correction

The Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson's Santa Rita Tent Unit of the Wilmot state prison can hold as many as 100 inmates.