Aaron Hernandez Allegedly Involved in Prison Fight, Law Enforcement Officials Say
The former Patriots tight end was recently convicted of first-degree murder.
BOSTON -- Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, just a month into a life sentence on first degree murder charges, was in “a two-on-one fight” that sent him to a segregation unit at a Massachusetts prison, law enforcement officials confirmed to ABC News.
Hernandez was convicted last month in the murder of his friend Odin Lloyd, whose bullet-riddled body was found a mile from the mansion Hernandez shared with his fiancé and toddler daughter.
Hernandez is now serving life without the possibility of parole at the MCI-Shirley Souza-Baronowski Correctional Facility, which is where he was sent to Special Management Unit on Monday night after he was allegedly involved in an attack on another inmate, several law enforcement sources said.
"It was two-on-one, he was part of the two,” said one prison official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A second source said the inmate was beaten in his cell and that it appeared “gang related.”
After the fight, prison officials found that the former NFL standout had been inked with a new tattoo that references the Bloods gang, the sources said.
"The victim in the fight was some absolute nobody. He was just trying to show he’s down with the Bloods, a scared man looking at life in prison,” a source said.
"We cannot comment on specific prisoners," said Chris Fallon, a spokesman for the state's Department of Correction.
Hernandez's attorneys, James Sultan and Michael Fee, did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment.
Hernandez is now slated to go on trial for the double murder of two men who were shot in a drive-by Boston prosecutors say was sparked by a spilled drink on a dance floor at a popular nightclub. A third man was wounded in that July 2012 attack. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have said he will be vindicated.