ESCAMBIA COUNTY, AL - Escambia County corrections officers locked down 37 inmates and called in backup to end an hour-long fight among county jail prisoners sparked by a confrontation between an officer and an inmate.

The incident began Monday when an inmate, Daryl Campbell, taunted an officer, said Escambia County Sheriff Grover Smith. That led to a confrontation and the "acting out" of three to five inmates in the jail.

"The officer wisely left the unit and waited for backup as the inmates continued acting out," Smith told the Press-Register for a story Tuesday. "They smashed a television and other equipment in the jail until enough officers arrived to take them all down."

Corrections officers stayed out of area and waited an hour for more officers to arrive.

Smith said the inmates were strip-searched and placed in their cells where they will be "locked down for a while."

"I'm proud of how they handled it," Smith said of the officers.

Smith said repairs have been made to cell doors that were not locking properly. Also, only four inmates at a time will be allowed out of their cells, he said.