LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - More than three dozen Nebraska State Patrol troopers joined prison personnel in searching for contraband in the wake of assaults on two staffers at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
The searches Sunday and Monday uncovered homemade alcohol, items that will be tested for the presence of drugs and some items that could have been modified into weapons, said state prisons director Scott Frakes.
The assaults happened around 6:30 p.m. Saturday inside one of the prison’s housing units. An inmate punched a staff member in the head and knocked him out. The inmate continued to assault the staff member and used pepper spray on him, the corrections department said.
When a second staff member arrived, the inmate struck him in the head with the pepper spray canister. The staffer was able to deploy his own pepper spray, and the inmate had been restrained by the time help arrived.
The first injured staff member remained hospitalized after the assault. The second injured staff member was treated for head wounds and released from a hospital.
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