4th inmate dies after prisoner clash in Okla.

Associated Press

Three inmates were stabbed to death during an attack or fight at an Oklahoma prison and a fourth died of his injuries overnight, an official said Sunday.

The violence erupted at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing, a community between the state’s two largest cities, Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

A preliminary investigation determined that the stabbings apparently happened in quick succession while the inmates at a medium-security wing of the prison were being let out of their cells into the exercise yard, said Terri Watkins, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. She said investigators were still trying to determine what caused the violence.

“The entire stabbing incident happened over a couple of minutes,” Watkins said, adding that prisoners were all locked in their cells within 40 minutes of the outbreak of violence.

No prison staff were injured or involved in the attack, Watkins said. None of the prisoners’ names were released because their families had to be notified first, she said.