Alva Review-Courier -

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The inmate population at a low-security state prison in northwestern Kansas grew steadily in the three months before a disturbance left part of a housing unit there unlivable and prompted the state to transfer nearly 12 percent of its prisoners Wednesday.

State Department of Corrections spokesman Samir Arif said the department moved 100 of the 856 inmates at the Norton Correctional Facility out after Tuesday night's disturbance was contained. He said it started when an inmate or inmates set fire to a mattress in a housing unit and as many as 250 spilled into the yard.

The d...