Early on Monday, police guards were attacked by inmates carrying prison cutting knives and ironbars while conducting routine checks, stated the Ministry of Interior.

Four policemen were transferred to the Police Hospital. Sergeant José Delgado Silveira had a 10-centimeter wound in the head and multiple injuries. Corporal Jorge Acosta suffered injuries. Two other officers, assistant sub officer and agent Marcio Daniel Dávila Mora suffered minor bruises. Meanwhile, five inmates were treated by the nursing prison complex, presenting minor penetrating wounds and bruises, with no hospitalization required for any of them, says the official statement.

After normalization of the situation, prison guards seized numerous homemade cuts and iron crowbars while, in cell 78, they found gaps practiced by the inmates housed there in order to try to escape. In this situation, the prison authorities decided to suspend visits on Tuesday 12 to COMCAR IV module.

(www.montevideo.com.uy and www.elpais.com.uy www.observa.com.uy, 12 January 2010)