Nevada State Prison on East Fifth Street is in lockdown and visiting for today has been canceled after an inmate there was found unconscious and severely beaten on a shower room floor.
Fritz Schlottman, Nevada Department of Corrections administrator, said inmate Eugene M. Ortega, 44, is on life support at Washoe Medical Center after being found Tuesday at 6:32 p.m.
Corrections officers received a tip of the assault and found Ortega unconscious in the shower room of Housing Unit 10 with "serious head and other injuries from an assault by other inmates."
Ortega is serving a six to 15 years sentence for robbery out of Clark County.
Schlottman said investigators believe Ortega and his attackers were members of the same "disruptive" group.
Last month another inmate was beaten with rocks by four fellow prisoners in the NSP yard. During that incident, guards fired warning shots to gain control of the melee. The inmate was treated at the hospital. The outcome of that investigation is unknown. It's unclear if the two incidents are related.
NSP is considered a medium security prison. It also houses Nevada's execution chamber.
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