The number of Hispanics imprisoned in Oklahoma has grown by 73% since 2004, state officials said

Latinos now represent the fastest-growing segment of the state's inmate population. There have been some highly publicized jailhouse brawls over the past two years involving Hispanics and other racial groups. In November 2009, authorities reported that fights between Hispanics and American Indians broke out at three prisons after prosecutors' announcement that murder charges would be filed against David Allen Tyner, an American Indian, accused of killing a Hispanic man and five others in southwest Oklahoma City. The fights at prisons in Granite, Hominy and Cushing, which authorities believe were coordinated, sent six inmates to the hospital with stab wounds. Shortly after those fights, two American Indians reportedly attacked two Hispanic inmates at a private prison in Lawton. Both of the attack victims were hospitalized with hatchet wounds. In September 2010, a large fight involving Hispanics and American Indians broke out in Hominy, sending another two inmates to the hospital for treatment. Authorities said that the brawls started in different housing units at the same time, leading them to believe the fights were coordinated, as well.