Seven employees and three inmates at the State Correctional Institute at Rockview were injured in a disturbance Wednesday morning, authorities said.

A fight started at 8:30 a.m. in the B-range shower area of the restricted housing unit when a prisoner refused to go back to his cell, Rockview state police said.

But Administrative Assistant Jack Allar said the prisoners who started the fight had refused to move to the outside exercise yard.

One inmate struck Rockview employee David L. Fortson, 36, in the face with a closed fist, police said.

Two other inmates struck two nearby employees, Michael Kunes, 25, and Charles Mitchell, 30, police said.

During the fight one prisoner yelled "riot" and a general disturbance resulted in the east wing of the prison, police said. Water was thrown from the upper tiers but prison employees had the situation under control within 10 minutes, police said.

"I would not say that at any time we had a riot -- it was a fight," Allar said.

None of the participants had been involved with a disturbance that occurred at the prison last week, Allar said.

Two employees were transferred to Centre Community Hospital where they were treated and released, a nursing supervisor at the hospital said.

The five other injured persons received medical attention at the institution's medical facility. All employees returned to work by 1 in the afternoon, Allar said.

The state police and prison authorities continue to investigate the incident.

The restrictive housing unit, the maximum security area of the prison, confines prisoners for 22-hours a day, Allar said. The prisoners are released from the units for two hours each day for exercise, Allar said.

Last week, several prisoners in the dining room threw metal trays and pitchers at employees and attempted to incite 400 other inmates. Prison authorities called it the worst incident at the institution in recent years. Eleven employees were injured during the 15-minute disturbance.

Rockview police identified several inmates as ring-leaders after the melee. Some of the suspects were removed from the institution before state police could interview them.