Arizona prison fight not a riot, though injuries reported

• A large-scale fight at an Arizona prison in Florence left multiple inmates injured.
• The incident was a gang-related altercation, not a riot, and that staff were not targeted, officials said.
• One inmate remained in critical condition, while about 10 others were hospitalized but stable as of April 28.

A large-scale fight at the Arizona State Prison Complex–Eyman in Florence, left multiple people injured and at least one person in critical condition, officials said.

Reports of the fight went out on April 26, and according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, the “inmate-on-inmate altercation” was related to gang violence, a news release said.

Ryan Thornell, director of the department, spoke about what he classified as a “disturbance” on April 28 to reporters. He confirmed the incident left several incarcerated people injured and required some to be taken to off-site hospitals.

“Roughly a third of them have come back treated,” Thornell said, adding that about 10 people remained hospitalized as of April 28, with all of them in stable condition except for one person who was still in critical condition.

Thornell did not give an exact number of people involved but described the incident as “sizable.”

He said the fight started in the kitchen and spilled into other areas, contributing to the number of people involved. Thornell said what happened was not a riot and that officials would not classify it that way, because at no time was the motivation to destroy property, and the staff was not targeted.

“It started out as a fight and it continued as a fight and it ended as a fight,” Thornell said.

Executive director of the Arizona Correctional Peace Officers Association, Carlos Garcia, called what happened at the prison a “full-blown riot” and the largest in decades.

He also claimed one inmate was left brain dead and that helicopters and ambulances were used to transport the injured.

Garcia and prison reform advocates have raised concerns that high-risk inmates may have been housed in a lower-security unit through classification overrides, similar to issues cited in the 2025 case involving Ricky Wassenaar, who was moved from maximum security to close custody and was later charged in the deaths of three incarcerated men at a Tucson prison.

Thornell said the incident was not related to classification overrides, adding that the people involved were housed in a close-custody unit and were “appropriately” placed.

He also pushed back on concerns about staffing, saying it “had nothing to do with the incident” and that correctional officer vacancy rates are currently below 13% statewide.