AUBURN – Hate crime charges may be levied against Androscoggin County Jail inmates involved in a brawl that broke out recently during a behind-bars church service.

“It was a mini-riot,” Sheriff Guy Desjardins said Thursday. “Thank God no one was badly hurt.”

It was the biggest explosion of violence inside the jail since it opened in 1990, Jail Administrator John Lebel said.

The July 31 fight – captured by a jail security camera – occurred among minimum security inmates who were gathered in a visiting room for a religious service, led by Catholic lay persons Burt Sylvan and Joshua Doyon.

About 42 inmates were there; no guards were inside.

As a row of inmates passed a seated prisoner, the fight began, quickly spreading to at least two other inmates. Most prisoners retreated to a corner as the men fought.

It took 30 seconds for guards to arrive, responding to a jail-wide “Code Gray” call for help.

“Everyone came,” Lebel said.

The fight occurred as the guards were changing shifts, meaning there were plenty of people to assist.

Sgt. Kevin Harmon was the first on the scene.

“He took the biggest guy who was in there and took him down to the floor,” Desjardins said.

Moments later more guards – Cpl. Jeffrey Carr and Corrections Officers Michael Chizmar, Brittany Belvin and Shane Thomas – arrived. Some wrestled inmates to the floor. Another is seen on the video spraying inmates with Mace pepper spray.

The only injuries were a few bloody noses and broken lips.

A jail-wide lockdown was ordered and an internal investigation began the next morning.

Disorderly conduct charges were levied against Jason Ray Pritchard, 23, of 112 College St., Lewiston; Ernesto Villar, 20, of New York City; Kerry Joseph Ross, 33, of 36 Winter St., Winthrop; and Kevin Matthew Camp, 31, of 51 Gould Road, Lisbon Falls.

More charges may follow.

On Thursday, Desjardins asked the Attorney General’s office to investigate the possibility of a hate crime.

According to the county investigation, the melee was the result of a run-in earlier in the day between Villar and Pritchard, who witnesses said threatened to “knock the black off” Villar, Desjardins said.

“We have to send a message to the population,” the sheriff said. “If it’s not tolerated in society, it’s not tolerated in here, either.”

Another fight broke out Thursday between two more inmates, a Caucasian and an African-American. This time, one of the men was treated for injuries at a local hospital. Desjardins declined to talk in detail about the incident because the investigation was incomplete.

He and Lebel hoped it wasn’t a sign of an ongoing problem.

“It’s a very, very grave concern for us,” Lebel said. The long-time jail administrator said the population has changed recently as more offenders with out-of-state rap sheets are being arrested locally.

“They are a more hardened type of inmate,” Lebel said. They create a tougher atmosphere.

Some changes have already taken place inside the jail. Church services will continue, but with half as many inmates as before. The prisoners will be divided into two groups and each will attend services every other week. Officers will be scheduled to attend, too.

Desjardins is also contemplating purchasing Tazers and allowing one guard per shift to carry the weapon that deploys painful shocks.

The sheriff and Lebel said they were grateful that none of their officers were hurt in either fight.

“Potentially, it could have been a lot worse,” Desjardins said.