Three inmates have died, and nine others have been injured after a gang-related brawl erupted inside Nevada’s only maximum-security prison, reports say. 

The incident happened at Ely State Prison in a rural, eastern part of the state on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a lockdown, according to the Associated Press. 

Nevada’s Department of Corrections described the fight as an "altercation," but said no officers were hurt. It did not release the names of the inmates who died or the conditions of those injured. 

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office told Fox5 Vegas that the brawl was gang-related. 

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Ely State Prison is described by the Nevada Department of Corrections as the "designated maximum-security prison" for the state with a capacity of 1,183 inmates. 

Around 400 staff currently work at the facility. 

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The deaths come after two other inmates — aged 38 and 49 — died at Ely State Prison in April and May of this year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 

In December 2022, several inmates there held a hunger strike over what advocates and some family members described as unsafe conditions and inadequate food portions. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.