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| Corrections staff rallies around co-workers |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/28/2004 |
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Workers from other Arizona prisons were donning yellow ribbons and volunteering to work shifts at a prison where a correctional officer has been held hostage by two inmates for nearly 10 days, a spokeswoman said today. Since Jan. 18, two inmates have been holed up in an officer tower. They took the tower's two officers hostage, and though they released one officer on Saturday, the other was still being held. Because of the hostage situation, the prison remains in lockdown, meaning the other 4,400 inmates at the medium- to high-security facility are being allowed little movement outside their cells. The lockdown has shifted much of the workload normally carried by inmates to staff members, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cam Hunter. "There is a huge workforce that hasn't been working," she said. Inmates usually have work duties ranging from laundry to cleaning to kitchen work. The two inmates in the tower were kitchen workers. To help alleviate the stress on staff at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis, officers from other prisons have volunteered to take over shifts and to make meals for the families of Lewis employees, Hunter said. Negotiators last talked to the officer in the tower on Monday; she indicated that she is alive. Hunter said that as far as negotiators know, there has been no major change in her condition. " A male correctional officer, who had been on duty with her when they were taken hostage, was released Saturday afternoon. He remained hospitalized today but did not suffer life-threatening injuries. The DOC has declined to identify the officers or inmates, or to say what the inmates are demanding. The standoff began about 5 a.m. on Jan. 18 after an inmate attacked two officers and a kitchen worker in the dining area. That prisoner and another inmate then got into the observation tower. The tower, in the middle of the prison grounds, is believed to be stocked with weapons. |
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