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11 inmates injured in brawl at Ill. jail

By Lisa Donovan
Chicago Sun Times

CHICAGO — Eleven inmates, some wielding homemade weapons, were injured in a gang-related brawl early Thursday at the Cook County Jail.

The violence erupted about 4:30 a.m. as breakfast was being served to 36 inmates in a tier of a maximum-security building at the 27th and California complex, said Brittney Blair, sheriff’s spokeswoman.

The fight happened along a corridor and spilled into a couple of the cells, Blair said. Authorities are trying to determine whether the inmates -- normally locked in their cells at this time -- left their cells when their doors were opened to deliver the food.

Initially, six inmates were taken to area hospitals, and five others were treated for “slash” and other wounds at the jail hospital. By afternoon, two remained in area hospitals and were being treated for cuts, according to a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Copyright 2009 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.

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