Guards were taken hostage by inmates Wednesday inside a Delaware prison, putting all the state’s prisons on lockdown as police swarmed the facility. It was not immediately clear how many guards had been taken hostage.
Geoffrey Klopp, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, said the Department of Correction commissioner told him that prison guards had been taken hostage at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. In a brief statement, the department said that DOC Response Teams and Delaware State Police were on the scene responding to a hostage situation. – READ MORE
3 to 5 guards at a Delaware prison have reportedly been taken hostage by inmates, and have control of the building https://t.co/sQ0gGjM86J
— Mark Abadi (@mark_abadi) February 1, 2017
UPDATE: A standoff is underway at a Delaware prison where inmates have taken guards hostage https://t.co/0imjzJeCHn pic.twitter.com/xZzaRZQ6jJ
— Business Insider (@businessinsider) February 1, 2017
Two prison employees released, along with dozens of inmates, in ongoing Delaware hostage situation, authorities say. https://t.co/u6wzY4Vl4C pic.twitter.com/LqrXSZovXT
— ABC News (@ABC) February 2, 2017
Prison inmates in Delaware took officers hostage over prison conditions—and Trump. https://t.co/KpAEyRSUGr pic.twitter.com/CX0RhV2wNt
— Complex (@Complex) February 2, 2017
The paper reports that their demands “came in the form of a manifesto or decree and mostly called for prison reforms,” which included “improper sentencing orders. Status sheets being wrong. Oppression towards the inmates.” When a different group of prisoners tapped into another line through a woman claiming her son was also being held hostage at the prison, they attempted to explain their reasoning behind the hostage situation, citing the actions of Donald Trump.
“We’re trying to explain the reasons for doing what we’re doing,” one of the voices on the call said. “Donald Trump. Everything that he did. All the things that he’s doing now. We know that the institution is going to change for the worse. We know the institution is going to change for the worse. We got demands that you need to pay attention to, that you need to listen to and you need to let them know. Education, we want education first and foremost. We want a rehabilitation program that works for everybody. We want the money to be allocated so we can know exactly what is going on in the prison, the budget.” – READ MORE
Police breached a building at Delaware's largest prison, ending a nearly 24-hour hostage standoff. 1 staffer died. https://t.co/3ewYYOUWVS
— AP South U.S. Region (@APSouthRegion) February 2, 2017
Officials say inmates used 'sharp objects' to take over Delaware prison, hold 3 prison guards and counselor hostage. https://t.co/noL5Q8uP8o
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 2, 2017