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Inmates Moved After Riot At Kansas Prison

Kansas Department of Corrections

All is quiet Wednesday after a night of rioting at the Norton Correctional Facility about 320 miles west of Kansas City.

The Kansas Department of Corrections (DOC) has moved 100 inmates to other prisons around the state, according to spokesman Samir Arif. Fifty of those inmates were moved to Lansing.

Two staff members suffered minor injuries and were treated on site.

This is one of several uprisings the DOC has had to put down recently. The last disturbance was in July at the prison in El Dorado.

The problems in Norton started when two inmates set a mattress on fire, according to Arif. Some 250 inmates were moved to the yard, where Arif says they started "raising hell," and then broke into a supply shed and took out rakes and shovels.

Several outsides agencies responded. The Norton Fire Department was called to put out out the mattress fire. The Kansas High Patrol says it responded with its plane and troopers on the ground. Officers from the Norton Police Department and deputies from the Norton County Sheriff's Office were also on the scene, according to DOC.

DOC has had trouble filling vacancies around the state. Norton has 196 staff members with 17 current vacancies, according to Arif. 

Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR and a member of the Kansas News Service.  He's also co-host of KCUR's political podcast Statehouse Blend Kansas. Follow him on Twitter @samzeff.

You deserve to know what your taxpayer dollars are paying for and what public officials are doing on your behalf – I’ll work to report on irresponsible government spending in the Kansas City area and shed light on controversies that slow government down. And when you hear my voice in the morning, you know you’re getting everything you need to start your day. Email me at sam@kcur.org, find me on Twitter @samzeff or call me at 816-235-5004.
Kyle Palmer is the editor of the Shawnee Mission Post, a digital news outlet serving Northeast Johnson County, Kansas. He previously served as KCUR's news director and morning newscaster.
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