Three corrections officers at Wallens Ridge State Prison were stabbed by inmates in a “premeditated” attack Friday, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections.
A total of five officers were injured at the prison in western Virginia during the attack, according to the department. The officers were transported for medical care outside the facility.
Three officers have been discharged, the Virginia DOC said. Two officers are in stable condition.
The DOC stated that five of the six perpetrators are “confirmed MS-13 gang members from El Salvador, who were in this country illegally.”
Each of the suspects have been convicted of violent crimes, including aggravated murder, first and second-degree murder and rape, according to the DOC.
The other inmate involved in the attack is a confirmed member of the Sureño 13 gang and from the U.S., serving a sentence for second degree murder.
“Five of the individuals responsible for this senseless attack should never have been in this country in the first place,” said Virginia DOC Director Chad Dotson in a statement.