7 inmates killed, 17 injured in incident at South Carolina prison

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LEE COUNTY, S.C. — An incident at a South Carolina prison has left seven inmates dead and 17 others injured.

WIS reported that there were multiple inmate-on-inmate fights at the Lee County Correctional Institution Sunday night.

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No prison staff or law enforcement officers were injured in the incident, WIS reported.

The prison was secured around 2:55 a.m., more than seven hours after the altercations started.

The state's Department of Corrections and the S.C. Law Enforcement Division are both investigating, WSPA reported.

The prison is a Level 3 facility, which holds "violent offenders with longer sentences, and inmates who exhibit behavioral problems," WPDE reported. "Inmates at level 3 facilities are closely supervised and their activities and movement within the institution are highly restricted."

Two corrections officers were killed in a 2015 fight. An inmate killed another in February, The Associated Press reported.

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2016, file photo, razor wire protects a perimeter of the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C.