Rioting inmates take hostages
Inmates armed with baseball bats took two corrections officers hostage, occupied a building and injured three officers and several of their fellow prisoners during a riot that stretched into Monday morning, officials said.
The riot began shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, when a fight in the prison yard spiraled out of control, officials said. Hinton Police Chief Shanon Pack said that “a handful” of inmates grabbed bats from the prison’s softball field.
“There were at least a couple hundred inmates on the yard, but only a handful of them were rioting or had bats or anything like that,” Pack said.
Caddo County Sheriff Lennis Miller said inmates refused to return to their cells and at one point occupied a building. Inmates took two corrections officers hostage at the beginning of the riot, eventually releasing the guards unharmed.
Law officers from several agencies surrounded the prison Sunday night, officials said.
A Caddo County sheriff’s spokesman said the riot was over by 4:30 a.m. Monday.
In a statement, Pablo E. Paez, a spokesman for The Geo Group of Boca Raton, Florida, the owner of the private prison, said prison officials immediately notified local law officers and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“As a result of the prompt
and immediate actions taken by the facility’s staff supported by onsite Bureau of Prisons staff and local law enforcement agencies, the facility was secured with no serious injuries to either staff, inmates, or law enforcement personnel,” Paez said.
Paez said the company is conducting a review of the incident in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and local authorities.
“The Great Plains Correctional Facility would like to extend its gratitude to all local law enforcement agencies who responded promptly to help secure the facility, including the Caddo County sheriff’s office, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Canadian County sheriff’s office, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Hinton Police Department, the Hydro Police Department, the Geary Police Department and the Binger Police Department,” the statement reads.
About 10 p.m. Sunday, the Town of Hinton posted on its Facebook page that “There is a situation at the prison but the perimeter has NOT been breached. We have multiple agencies surrounding the prison to ensure the town’s safety.”
The Great Plains Correctional Center Facility is a 1,940-bed men’s prison on Sugar Creek Drive in Hinton.