2 inmates in standoff treated at hospital

Two inmates involved in taking a pair of guards hostage at a maximum-security prison Friday afternoon were treated at an area hospital and returned to state incarceration Saturday, officials said Monday.

Solomon Graves, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, declined to release the names of the two inmates.

The inmates had been taken to a nearby hospital for “evaluation and treatment of non-life threatening injuries” after authorities discharged “less than lethal” and “lethal” munitions while responding to the hostage situation at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker, Graves said in an email.

Asked to clarify, Graves confirmed that during the response, a corrections officer fired a single shot that did not strike anyone. Graves also said it was not a warning shot.

The prison said the guards were taken hostage about 4:30 p.m. and that they were released about two and a half hours later “following a planned use of force by the Department’s Emergency Response Team.”

In a call to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newsroom, a person who identified himself as an inmate at the prison said inmates had broken out of their cell or cells and taken two officers hostage. The call came in around 6:15 p.m., before prison officials released the statement announcing what had happened.

The two guards were said to have suffered minor lacerations, for which they also received treatment at a nearby hospital.

Arkansas State Police are investigating the hostage-taking, and the prisons system is conducting an internal investigation. Graves said a determination on charges would be made after the police investigative file is sent to the prosecuting attorney for review.