Delaware State Police say inmates who took five Department of Corrections employees hostage at a maximum-security prison have released one person.
State police spokesman Sgt. Richard Bratz said at a media briefing Wednesday evening that the four other employees remain in the inmates’ custody at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. He says negotiations are underway.
Bratz says a preliminary investigation suggests the incident began around 10:30 a.m. when a correctional officer inside a building that houses over 100 inmates radioed for immediate assistance. Other officers responded to help, and Bratz says that’s when the five employees were taken hostage.
He says one hostage was released around 2:40 p.m. That person was taken by ambulance to a hospital with injuries that Bratz says aren’t life-threatening.
Bratz says authorities don’t know whether anyone else is injured.
He says authorities are negotiating with the prisoners but didn’t give further details and did not take questions.
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