Seven inmates died and 17 were injured after fights broke out at a maximum-security prison in South Carolina in the United States late on Sunday. Jeff Taillon, a spokesperson for the facility, said personnel of the State Law Enforcement Division had helped bring order at the Lee Correctional Institution around 3 am on Monday, AP reported.

Taillon said a number of fights broke out among the prisoners around 7.15 pm. No prison staff were injured in the tussles. The altercations broke out in three housing units at the prison, Fox News reported.

There are around 1,500 inmates at the maximum-security prison in South Carolina’s Bishopville town. It houses some of the state’s most violent and longest-serving offenders, according to the AP report.