(Michigan City, IN) - An Indiana State Prison inmate was being treated for serious burns suffered in a fire inside his cell.

 

 

According to the Indiana Department of Correction, the preliminary findings of the ongoing investigation show an inmate may have tampered with something that caused a spark inside the cell.  Staff members, including inmates with the prison fire department, extinguished the Sunday night fire, which was contained to the cell where it started.

 

So far, the name of the hospitalized inmate has not been disclosed. Two inmates died from fires in their cells at the Michigan City prison in 2023 and 2017.  Governor Mike Braun said there will also be an investigation into why the past fires occurred in hopes of preventing more in the future.

 

“We will be looking to see what was behind this.  Do a full investigation of it and look to improve our prison system in all of the ways we need to to make it better,” he told WTHR-TV out of Indianapolis.