A fight among 10 inmates from rival gangs at a Montville prison last week is the latest incident to raise safety concerns among correctional officers statewide.

Friday’s fight at Corrigan Correctional Center in Montville follows an attack on a correctional officer at Cheshire Correctional Institute on Thursday and the stabbing of two officers at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown last Tuesday by an inmate with a sharpened toothbrush.

Mike Vargo, the president of AFSCME Local 1565, which represents correctional officers at Corrigan, attributes the increase on inmate-on-inmate attacks -- from 233 in 2021 to 330 in 2023 -- to changes in legislation that mandate inmates, even in high-risk groups, be released into the general population for longer periods of time.

Vargo said without proper prison designs, too many inmates are together at the same time, leading to higher likelihood of an altercation.

“There’s no real distinction between general population and these specialized units,” Vargo said. “If not for these misguided and uneducated changes, these inmate-on-inmate attacks would not be happening.”

Vargo referenced the PROTECT Act, passed by the General Assembly in 2022, which provides more oversight in prisons, regulates use of “isolated confinement,” and permits greater social contacts. The bill was preceded by a similar executive order by Gov. Ned Lamont a year prior.

The state Department of Correction, in a statement, said the fight at Corrigan occurred at about 8:10 p.m. Friday and was quickly broken up by corrections staff. Ten individuals identified as taking part in the brawl were relocated to MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution’s Restrictive Housing Unit in Suffield. No injuries were reported and there were no criminal charges, the DOC said. The incident remains under investigation.

It was at least the second large gang-related fight at Corrigan in just over a year. Multiple correctional officers sustained injuries last July while breaking up a fight among inmates housed in the gang unit.

Ken Wright, a correctional officer and union steward at Corrigan, said the legislation has had a ripple effect and “larger scale incidents are becoming a more common occurrence.”

“We weren’t given the tools to facilitate this. This is a statewide problem. This is going to lead to someone being killed if something is not done,” Wright said.

DOC spokeswoman Ashley McCarthy said the DOC has formed a committee that includes union leadership to review current policies “with the goal of enhancing safety for staff and the incarcerated population as well.”

The DOC is also looking to hire a criminal justice consultant to suggest possible changes.

There were 620 prisoners housed at Corrigan as of July.

g.smith@theday.com