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U.S. prison standoff continues as 4 employees still taken hostage by inmates

Xinhua, February 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

A prison standoff in the eastern U.S. state of Delaware has been ongoing for at least nine hours after five employees were taken hostage Wednesday morning, though one of them has already been released and sent to hospital with injuries.

FBI and Delaware state police continued negotiations with inmates inside a building of the Level 5 James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (JVTCC) in Smyrna, some 90 miles (about 149 km) away from Washington D.C., said Sgt. Richard Bratz, a state police spokesman.

The incident began around 10:30 a.m. (1530 GMT) when a guard radioed for immediate assistance from inside the building housing more than 100 inmates, said Bratz. He did not reveal whether the authorities had received any demands from prisoners.

"We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of everyone involved and using all of our available resources," Bratz told local reporters.

"The inmates have taken over a building," William Carson, a member of the House Corrections Committee, said earlier on Wednesday.

Citing the officers association, CNN affiliate KYW said four guards and one counselor were taken hostage by inmates, and one guard has been released.

"It's a very scary situation right now," Geoff Klopp, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, said earlier in the day.

A large number of local emergency responders, including policemen from Delaware and neighboring Pennsylvania, were seen rushing to the prison around midday.

All Level 5 Delaware prisons, the state's maximum security facilities, were placed on lockdown in the day as a result, though a corrections department spokeswoman said it is an isolated incident with no threat to the public.

Opened in 1971, the JVTCC has been Delaware's largest correctional facility for men, housing about 2,500 minimum, medium and maximum security prisoners as well as the state's death row inmates. It also housed facilities for executions, said the State Bureau of Prisons. Endi