By Martin E. Comas
The Orlando Sentinel
COLEMAN, Fla. — A fight at the Federal Correctional Complex left as many as 14 inmates seriously injured Thursday. Eleven of them were airlifted to hospitals around the state, including Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Prison officials said the brawl broke out just before 2 p.m. and involved dozens of prisoners in a recreation yard in a maximum-security wing.
None of the prison staff was injured, and there was no danger to the public, officials said.
The prison was placed on lockdown.
Jim Judge, executive director of Lake-Sumter Emergency Medical Services, said seven ambulances and several medical helicopters responded. Most injuries involved stab wounds, he said.
Five patients were flown to ORMC, and others were taken by helicopters to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Shands Hospital in Gainesville and Tampa General Hospital. Three were transported by ambulance to Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala.
“It was a busy day, to say the least,” Judge said. “Certainly it was a drain on our crew, but this is our job.”
Judge said Lake-Sumter EMS officials have been meeting with Coleman officials to coordinate services when large-scale incidents — such as the recent fights — happen.
Prison officials did not say what sparked the fight but said there will be an investigation. Thursday’s brawl is the third fight in as many months at the Coleman facility in which inmates were seriously injured and treated at area hospitals.
On Jan. 25, a fight left eight inmates seriously hurt with stab and gunshot wounds. Seven of those were airlifted to ORMC, and an eighth was taken to Leesburg Regional Medical Center.
On Feb. 16, an inmate was transported to ORMC after being stabbed in the chest.
In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office indicted two men in the killing of a fellow inmate at the complex.
Gerardo Martinez, 29, and Osbaldo Farias, 36, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the October 2007 death of Orlando Yazzie, 42.
Martinez, Farias and Yazzie were exercising in a recreational cage at Coleman when Farias stabbed Yazzie about 13 times with a homemade knife, according to reports, which said he and Martinez then punched, kicked and stomped Yazzie for 45 minutes.
Copyright 2009 Sentinel Communications Co.