Posted on 01/18/2004 9:07:25 AM PST by Indy Pendance
PHOENIX (AP) -- Two state prison guards were taken hostage by inmates early Sunday, and negotiators were called in to try to defuse the situation.
One inmate overpowered one of the guards shortly after 5 a.m. during breakfast preparations, then met up with another inmate in the prison yard and the two gained access to the officers' tower, said Jim Robideau, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Two other officers were injured in a scuffle, but aside from the two hostages - one male and one female correctional officer - all other staff and inmates were accounted for, Robideau said.
Negotiation teams and officers from the Corrections Department, the Department of Public Safety and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office were at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis prison Sunday morning.
The medium- to high-security prison, on the western edge of Phoenix, houses 4,000 inmates, most convicted of felonies such as manslaughter and aggravated assault.
More than a week ago, the prison was the site of two small fires started after an altercation between two inmates spread unrest among 80 prisoners. The Jan. 7 disturbance was brought under control within two hours, officials said. No one was hurt as a result of the fires, but three correctional officers suffered minor injuries.
Officials say they don't know if the two incidents are related.
With all the "human rights" poo that has infected our corrections facilities, what can be done with such slime? Extend their sentence? It almost seems that the prison employees are the ones getting punished when this sort of thing happens.
There was a time when prisoners who didn't want to follow the rules wound up in "the hole" - some pretty nasty solitary confinement (or was that just in the prison movies?) was some medicine for bad behavior.
I guess the prisons are a lot like some public schools. The inmates (or students) are running the joint. Administrators have their hands tied and can do nothing substantial with those who just don't want to follow the rules.
I've got an idea - how about making the committing of a felony while in prison a capitol offense - punishable by hanging.
Oh - wait - it's not humane
Yet our prisons are more hospitable places to live than some of our law-abiding citizens are forced to live in. I just don't get it.....
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