Power Outage Hits Banning Prison

BANNING, CA — Inmates were without normal phone service this weekend due to a widespread power outage at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, authorities said Sunday.

The outage occurred Thursday and also affected the surrounding community, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's officials said all services returned to normal except for phone services for inmates at the correctional facility. According to authorities, staff at the facility were trying to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible.

The cause of the power outage was not immediately available.