A corrections officer at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton shot and killed an inmate Friday morning after he and another prisoner wouldn't stop attacking a third inmate.



According to a news release from the Oregon Department of Corrections, inmate Jayson Matthew Withers was shot about 9 a.m., taken to a local hospital, and was pronounced dead at 9:21 a.m.



The guard fired "to prevent imminent serious bodily injury to an inmate being assaulted" at the medium-security prison, which is the third-largest prison in Oregon. The guard's name was not yet released, nor were the names of the other two prisoners involved in the fight.

Jayson Withers at the time of his arrest (left) and in a more recent prison photo.

The inmate who was being attacked was also taken to an area hospital for treatment of injuries. The other inmate involved in the attack is in disciplinary segregation.

Withers was serving time on one count of criminally negligent homicide in Marion County, three counts of second-degree robbery and three counts of identity theft. He had been at the prison since May 13, 2010.

Among his crimes, Withers had been convicted of robbing a Dutch Brothers coffee shop in December of 2009.

The prison, housed in a converted mental hospital, holds 1,725 inmates. It is best known now as the home of Prison Blues, inmate-made denim clothing sold at retail outlets throughout Oregon.

The prison was the site of a lockdown in May that lasted several days. And in January, the prison's superintendent was demoted and transferred.

-- The Oregonioan