BRIDGEWATER, MASS. (WHDH) – An inmate at the Massachusetts Department of Correction died Sunday after being injured in a fight at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater, officials said.
State Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Communications Manager Scott Croteau in a statement said staff at the treatment center first responded near 9 a.m. after a fight broke out between two incarcerated people.
Staff soon found a 34-year-old inmate unresponsive and “suffering from wounds caused by a possible assault,” according to Croteau. Staff gave medical aid and emergency crews brought the inmate to an area hospital where he later died.
Croteau did not identify the inmate who died but said a preliminary investigation indicated the man was involved in the fight. Croteau said the assault involved a “closed fist.”
The incident remained under investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Correction, the Massachusetts State Police, and the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office as of Monday afternoon.
The Massachusetts Treatment Center is a medium security facility housing male inmates identified as sex offenders. The treatment center also houses people who have been civilly committed as sexually dangerous persons, according to the Department of Corrections.
The treatment center is part of a larger complex that includes the Old Colony Correctional Center, the soon-to-be-closed Old Colony Minimum facility, and Bridgewater State Hospital.
Violence at the treatment center comes after other recent incidents in Massachusetts prisons, including a deadly apparent assault at Old Colony Correctional Center on Sept. 15.
Just days after the incident at Old Colony, officials said two inmates assaulted guards at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on Sept. 18, sending five prison officers to area hospitals. Two officers were stabbed. One officer suffered serious injuries.
The Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union…