× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

Five employees of a Cushing prison were injured in what corrections officials described as an “altercation” between the guards and inmates Tuesday night.

State Department of Corrections spokesman Mark Myers said the altercation started verbally between an inmate and a corrections officer at the Cimarron Correctional Facility, a private prison operated by Nashville-based CoreCivic.

The five injured employees were treated at a hospital and released, according to a news release.

“It wasn’t a riot or anything,” Myers said. “It was not that; it was just an altercation.”

None of the four inmates involved was injured, the DOC said in a statement.

The altercation, which occurred about 9 p.m., stemmed from an inmate refusing to comply with a correctional officer’s orders, the release says. The employee pepper-sprayed the inmate, and then several inmates assaulted the officer, according to the release.

Correctional officers dispersed the fight through the use of “inflammatory agents,” later identified as pepper spray.

The prison houses up to 1,650 inmates, according to the DOC. Myers said the incident is under investigation.