Inmates Take Over Delaware Prison, Stab Guard

Guards have been taken hostage and an entire building is being controlled by inmates at a maximum security prison in Delaware, Fox reports.

All Delaware prisons have gone on lockdown because of the situation. 

One inmate who spoke to the Wilmington Journal over the phone said a guard had been stabbed, but no other reports have confirmed that information. The inmate said there were "a lot" of hostage takers and also talked about a list of demands.

Geoffrey Klopp, president of the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, said that 3 to 5 prison guards had been taken hostage at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. In a brief statement, the department said that DOC Response Teams and Delaware State Police were on the scene responding to a hostage situation.

A DOC spokeswoman said only that an emergency situation was reported at the Smyrna prison late Wednesday morning. The facility was placed on lockdown, as were all prisons in the state per DOC policy. Spokeswoman Jayme Gravell provided few details but described the situation as an isolated incident, adding that there was no threat to the public.

Gravell said firefighters were called to the scene after reports of smoke and were being held on standby.

Video from above the prison shows uniformed officers gathered in two groups along fences near an entrance to the prison. Later, video showed several people surrounding a stretcher and running as they pushed it across the compound. It wasn't clear if a person was on the stretcher. People could be seen standing near a set of doors with an empty stretcher and wheelchair.

According to the department's website, the prison is Delaware's largest correctional facility for men, housing about 2,500 inmates. It houses minimum, medium, and maximum security inmates, and also houses Kent County detainees awaiting trial. It is also the site of the state's death row and where executions were carried out. The prison opened in 1971.

In 2004, an inmate raped a counselor and took her hostage for nearly seven hours at the Smyrna prison, according to an Associated Press report at the time. A department sharpshooter later shot and killed 45-year-old Scott Miller, according to the report, ending the standoff.

Information from Fox News and the Wilmington Journal was also used in this report.