Prisons officer held hostage, rescued by police

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A guard held hostage at a South Carolina high security prison was rescued early Wednesday after a standoff of more than six hours in the prison's most secure unit, said Clark Newsom, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

A nurse escorted by a guard was passing out medicine around 9 p.m. Tuesday when some inmates overpowered the guard. The nurse was able to escape.

Medication is typically passed to inmates through a slit in the door but on Tuesday night, for some reason, the guard opened the door, and the inmate inside the cell attacked him.



The officer was eventually rescued and prison officials regained control of the building around 3:15 a.m. when negotiations with the inmates failed.

About 100 corrections officers and State Law Enforcement Division agents blew open a door and regained control of the building that houses the prison's lockdown or isolation cells. The inmates did not resist, Newsom said. The correctional officer had been dressed in an inmate's uniform to disguise him but he was recognized and rescued, Newsom said.

The officer appeared to have a suffered a head injury that was not thought to be serious and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. His name has not been released.

As of Wednesday morning, Newsom said no inmate injuries had been reported.

"You've got murderers, you've got rapists, you've got some of the worst of the worst here," Newsom said. "It could have been a whole lot worse."