2 inmates die during Nebraska prison riot

Two inmates died and two were injured as a result of a weekend riot at a Nebraska prison, the head of the corrections officers’ union said on Monday.

The uprising started at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution in the southeastern part of the state on Sunday afternoon, said Mike Marvin, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees. The prison is a maximum/medium custody facility for men.

“My understanding is it started as a confrontation in front of one of the housing units and it escalated from there,” said Marvin. “We’re deeply concerned.”

He said some workers suffered minor injuries.

Marvin said Nebraska prisons have problems with understaffing and overcrowding. He said inmates at the prison had been complaining they were not getting enough time in the yard.

Representatives for the state’s Department of Correctional Services were not immediately available for comment. The Omaha World-Herald newspaper said that department director Scott Frakes planned to hold a news conference Monday.