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Inmates Holding Correctional Employees Hostage At Delaware Maximum Security Prison

SMYRNA, Del. (CBS) -- Several prison employees are being held hostage at a maximum security prison in Delaware. Governor John Carney and officials gave an update shortly after 8:00 p.m., on Wednesday night and announced that two corrections employees remained held, out of the four that were originally taken hostage.

Authorities also detailed that several inmates were released, but it was unclear if those inmates were being held against their will.

Sgt. Richard Bratz, the public information officer for the Delaware State Police, says a correctional officer made a radio call from within C Building at the James T. Vaughn Correction Center around 10:30 a.m., requesting immediate assistance. The building houses over 100 inmates.

Bratz said five Department of Correction employees were taken hostage, but that number was later reduced to four, and one had been released. That person was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries around 2:40 p.m.

Another employee was released later in the day and was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

"We continue negotiations to obtain a peaceful and safe resolution," Bratz said. Secretary Rob Coupe echoed that sentiment later Wednesday night.

Officials said both inmates and hostages suffered injuries, but do not know the extent or the number of injuries.

There is no information as to what sparked the violence in Delaware's largest prison.

Delaware Online reports they received a call from an inmate who was taken hostage to relay demands.

"I'm just doing what I'm being told to. I'm just trying to help, ma'am. They just need somebody to hear their demands," the man said.

He then listed the demands he was given to say.

"Improper sentencing orders. Status sheets being wrong. Oppression towards the inmates," he said.

Delaware's Department of Corrections says in a statement that their response teams and the Delaware State Police have responded to the hostage situation.

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Video shows armed officers outside the prison.

The Kent County Fire Department was called to the maximum security prison around 11:30 a.m. after an alarm was sounded.

"Prison is on lockdown, all prison in the state are on lockdown, as per protocol," said Jayme Gravell, public information's officer for the Department of Corrections.

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According to the department's website, the all-male facility is the state's largest prison, housing around 2,500 inmates.

The Correctional Officers Association of Delaware says in a statement that an officer was assaulted at the prison on Saturday.

They say the incident happened when an inmate made a threat to the officer and then squirted an unknown liquid substance onto the officer's upper torso and left arm through a gap in the cell door.

"Once again, our officers are subjected to abuse by the inmates in our facilities," Geoff Klopp, the group's president, said in a statement. "True, this time it appears to have been water thrown at an officer. But all too often, the items thrown are contraband or bodily fluids. Some have said we are overstating the incidents which occur in our facilities."

The prison also houses death row inmates.

The correctional facility opened in 1971.

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