State prison unit secured after guards held for 3 hours
Six inmates at the state’s maximum security prison in Tucker held three guards for about three hours Monday afternoon after they took control of an area of the unit, a prisons spokesman said.
Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves said the prison was placed under lockdown before the staff members were released from the area Monday evening. They suffered minor injuries, including bruises and scrapes, he said.
Six inmates took keys from correctional officers during a “recreation call” at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker around 3: 30 p. m. Monday, according to an initial statement from Graves.
Graves later said the six had overpowered two officers and gotten their keys as they were being moved to or from the recreation area. A third officer was isolated in the area as the inmates took control.
One inmate, who was injured during the disturbance, was taken to an area hospital, Graves said. The inmate, who was in stable condition, was not involved in the initial disturbance, according to Graves.
When asked why the inmate was taken to an area
hospital, Graves said the injuries to the inmate were too much for the infirmary at the prison to handle.
Graves said in a statement that, as of 6: 30 p. m., all staff members had been released and that the disturbance was resolved as of 6: 45 p. m. and the unit began “the process of returning to normal operation.”
After surrendering to prison officials, the inmates who carried out the seizure were taken to the Varner Supermax Unit, the state’s highest- security prison, located about 45 miles to the southeast.
Speaking to a gathering of reporters assembled near the entrance to the Tucker prison, Graves said the department would begin a “critical incident review” to determine the specific nature and cause of what happened.
Correction Department Director Wendy Kelley said during the incident that the officers inside the prison were OK, but she did not respond to subsequent calls seeking comment.
J. R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said in a written statement that the governor was updated on the situation and spoke with Kelley. Hutchinson will receive a full briefing later in the week, Davis said.
Asked about staffing levels
at the prison, Graves said there were vacancies, but he declined to speculate on whether that contributed to the incident. According to data from July, staff vacancies across Arkansas’ prisons were at 12.95 percent this year.
Corrections officers “come to work and do a hard job,” Graves said.
“Today is indicative of the inherent danger of their work,” he said. “But our staff performed admirably today, and at this point we are just glad the situation was resolved without any serious injury to inmates or our staff.”
Bill Sadler, an Arkansas State Police spokesman, said the agency is investigating any criminal activity that may have occurred in the lead- up to the situation or during it. The agency, he said, will prepare a case file on the incident and turn it over to the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney.
The 532- bed Maximum Security Unit in Tucker is within sight of the Tucker Unit, a separate
facility, also in Jefferson County.
The incident at the unit came two weeks after three warning shots were fired by correctional officers responding to a reported stabbing in a solitary confinement area at the unit, according to Graves.
The July 22 incident began when at least two inmates made it out of their single- man cages in the prison’s isolation recreational area and breached the cage of another inmate, who was stabbed, Graves said. He said Monday’s seizure took place in a recreation area separate from the site of the July altercation.
When correctional officers responded, they were assaulted as they tried to handcuff one of the out- of- bounds inmates. Then, three warning shots were fired, according to Graves.
State police continue to investigate that incident, Sadler said, and the case will eventually be turned over to the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney.