Video appears to capture fight inside Arizona prison
In a cell phone video that appears to have been filmed inside an Arizona prison, one man tries to get away from two others. It’s not clear when or where the video was shot.
- A video appearing to depict a fight within an Arizona prison, involving makeshift weapons, has surfaced on social media.
- Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry officials have stated they will address inquiries about the video next week.
- The incident’s location and date remain unconfirmed.
A video capturing a fight in what appears to be an Arizona prison was posted on social media, showing a man bloodied and being followed by two others with makeshift flails — metal locks hanging from the ends of tethers.
Representatives of Arizona’s prison system declined to immediately comment on the 3-minute video.
The combatants were dressed in orange pants and shirts with “ADC” stamped on them.
It’s not clear when or where the video was shot. It follows a fight between one man and two others that moves from inside a building, through a doorway and outside into a prison yard. No correctional officers or prison personnel are visible at any point in the footage that appears to be shot on a cell phone.
Cell phones are considered contraband in Arizona prisons and are prohibited. How the person filming the video obtained the device was unclear.
Arizona’s prison system is run by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. Reached by email on May 16, department officials said they would respond to The Arizona Republic’s inquiries about the video, including whether they could confirm it had been filmed in an Arizona prison, next week.
On April 4, three men were killed inside the Cimarron Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson. The Department of Corrections identified Ricky Wassenaar, a violent repeat offender serving 16 life sentences for a 2004 attempted prison escape that turned into a hostage crisis, as the sole suspect in the triple homicide. Saul Alvarez, 51, Thorne Harnage, 42, and Donald Lashley, 75, were the men killed.
The incident prompted strong criticism from state lawmakers, including House Judiciary Chair Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley, who demanded accountability from the department and questioned why Wassenaar was placed in a lower-security unit despite repeated warnings and past disciplinary violations.
3-minute video shows conflict move through multiple prison areas
The video begins with two men on the ground, legs interlocked, wrestling away from each other.
One man, with long black hair, stands up holding an orange tether. At the end of it swings a metal combination lock — he holds it like a weapon.
Another man, with short black hair, still on the ground, pushes himself backward. His face and clothes are bloodied.
In the background, voices can be heard.
“Joseph, give me the password.”
“Get the (expletive) out of here.”
“You want the password?”
“Let him go. Let him go, man.”
The bloodied man stumbles to his feet and backs out of the frame. The man with the makeshift flail follows, and another man, also in orange, holding a tethered lock, joins behind him.
The room comes into view: white cinderblock walls, waist-high dividers, rows of bunk beds and two long, rectangular windows letting in sunlight.
The second man with a flail steps forward and feigns a move. The man with short hair picks up a chair, trying to shield himself.
Heavy breathing fills the audio. Someone off-camera says, “Go on, get out of here.”
The camera dips behind a wall and then shows the scene again. One man holds his lock by his shoulder, ready to strike. The other crouches behind the chair, blood on his face and shoulder.
“You want me to leave or not? Move,” says the bloodied man.
“Leave right now,” one of the men replies, pointing.
Then to the other: “Bro, just get the (expletive) over here, on this side. Hurry up.”
“There — go,” the man with long hair says, motioning at the man with the chair.
“Alright. Password?” the man with the chair asks, holding his hand up.
“I don’t give a (expletive),” comes the response.
The bloodied man walks away through an open doorway, and the long-haired man with the flail follows.
“Leave. Leave, (expletive),” the man with long hair yells, walking out the door.
The camera follows them outside.
A cement walkway cuts between blue buildings on one side and a tall metal fence on the other.
The two men face off again. The bloodied man, still carrying the chair, suddenly throws it and runs.
The man with the flail catches him. Grabs him. The second man with a weapon rushes in, swinging his lock. It hits.
The bloodied man falls, a trail of dust lifting as he rolls away.
He gets back up near the metal fence, barbed wire above him, then takes off along the edge.
“(Expletive) the rat,” someone says off camera.
The bloodied man walks off into the distance. The two men stalk after him.
In the background, a loud banging sound — like wheels hitting seams in the concrete — echoes as the camera trails far behind and the video ends.
Video reflects known dangers in Arizona prisons, advocate says
Maria Morris, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, reviewed the video and said it reflected troubling patterns reported by incarcerated people in Arizona, including assaults involving improvised weapons such as locks in socks.
Morris, whose work focuses on solitary confinement, said many people are placed into general population units despite warning staff that they do not feel safe.
Prisoners often feel unsafe after they opt out of prison gang affiliation by signing what’s known as an “Integrated Housing Program agreement,” which indicates a willingness to be housed with people of any race, Morris said. In Arizona prisons, that decision can mark someone as a target.
Often, prison staff tell them they must go into the general housing unit anyway, she said.
“They are told that they need to stay on the unit until they are threatened or assaulted,” she said.
Afterward, they’re typically moved into solitary confinement — sometimes for months — before the cycle repeats, Morris said.
