From the BBC:
A prisoner has died and more than 20 people, mostly inmates, have been injured during unrest at a jail in the Upper Egyptian city of Assiut.
Officials said the clashes followed rumors about an inmate’s death. Some prisoners rioted and took officers hostage and seized guns.
The violence continued for several hours. Police used tear gas and live bullets to regain control of the jail.
Earlier unconfirmed reports had said unknown gunmen had attacked the prison.
Four warders and at least 20 prisoners were said to have been injured in the clashes.
An Interior Ministry statement quoted by the Reuters news agency said the riot occurred when fighting broke out between four prisoners who attacked each other with cutlery.
Police intervened and punished the inmates with 48 hours in solitary confinement, the statement said.
Inmate Ali Abdel Salam died during his solitary confinement, after which “a rumour spread among the prisoners he had died because an officer assaulted him”, the statement said.
Conflicting reports
However, there is some confusion about the identity of the dead inmate. Another report named him as Hani Ghandour, who was serving a seven-year sentence for assault.
Another report said Ghandour was killed during armed clashes after a group of 15 gunmen had stormed the building in an attempt to free prisoners.
There is no explanation for the discrepancies in the dead man’s name or the reason which lay behind the violence.
Assiut – about 250 miles (400km) south of Cairo – is the largest city in Upper Egypt, with a population of about 400,000 people. Its jail is reported to hold about 3,000 prisoners.
Correspondents say conditions in Egyptian prisons are often dire and overcrowded, and security personnel have been accused of abusing inmates.
