WARREN – A Maine State Prison inmate was hospitalized Tuesday after a brutal attack at the hands of at least one fellow prisoner outside the medium-security unit building.

A temporary lockdown in two housing areas in that unit lasted for a few hours after the 6:20 a.m. incident, and several areas were checked for weapons, Warden Jeffrey Merrill said Tuesday.

A 48-year-old prisoner serving a 35-year murder sentence was on his way to work in the kitchen when at least one inmate severely assaulted him.

“He was hurt quite badly,” Merrill said. “He was losing a considerable amount of blood … there was quite a lot of trauma [to the head].” Merrill declined to identify the victim or the alleged attacker.

Some guards witnessed the attack from a distance and quickly responded. Merrill also credited medical personnel for their emergency care.

The wounded man was taken by ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport, where he was admitted and stabilized, Merrill said. In the midafternoon, the warden described the unidentified inmate’s condition as “stable” and not life-threatening. He had “bad bruising around the head and face,” Merrill said.

“No weapon has been found,” he said, “but we think something was involved.”

The prisoner’s injuries indicated that a sharp weapon was not used, but there is a possibility he was beaten with a blunt object. For example, a padlock is a common weapon used in prisons, the warden said.

The bleeding injury also could have been caused by the prisoner falling and striking his head on concrete after being beaten, Merrill said, noting that an investigation was under way.

The inmate suspected of attacking the prisoner will be segregated from the rest of the prison population until the probe is completed. Early reports indicate the attacker may have been on his way to a medical appointment when the assault took place, the warden said.

Both men have been at the prison for only a few years and are housed in the medium-security unit, Merrill said, and both are convicted murderers. The inmate believed to have initiated the assault is serving a 30-year sentence.

Ever since the new prison opened in February 2002, assaults – both inmate-to-inmate and inmate-to-guard – have been on the increase.

“There is not enough staff to watch all the corners,” Merrill said. “The prisoners know where they can get away with it.

“Staffing is an issue,” he stressed. “We’ve asked for additional staff.”

In response to a recent prison study, state Department of Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson will be asking the Legislature for 14 more guards, Merrill said.

Maine State Prison has 206 guards to cover three shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It has 890 inmates, including 440 in the medium-security unit.