Inmates Overpower Guards at North Carolina Jail

Inmates overpowered correctional staff and took over parts of a jail in eastern North Carolina early Monday, but the siege ended hours later when law enforcement officers entered the facility and seized control. Three guards and 88 inmates were inside the Bertie-Martin Regional Detention Center in Windsor when the takeover began at about 5am, prompting an immediate response from local, state, and federal authorities, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement posted on social media. At around 1:30pm, the SBI said the incident had ended and that it had cleared the facility with the help of the FBI.

• "All inmates and staff are safe and accounted for, and those who sustained injuries have received treatment," the SBI said. "Inmates have been transferred to other facilities for housing, and the detention center will remain secured while personnel assess the extent of the damage. The public is asked to avoid the area as crews continue working to clear the scene."

During the incident, inmates took two guards captive and the third guard escaped, the AP reports. Negotiations led to the release of the two guards along with 80 inmates, leaving only eight inmates inside, Bertie County Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin said at a news conference. By early afternoon, the SBI had entered the facility and was working to take the remaining inmates into custody, Ruffin said. The sheriff said, without elaborating, that the inmates who were released were taken to a "secure place." He said the two guards who were released are undergoing medical treatment but he had no details about their injuries.

Authorities also did not address why there were only three guards overseeing the entire jail population at the time. A secure perimeter was established around the detention center and the public was asked to avoid the immediate area, Ruffin said. More than 20 law enforcement agencies responded to the scene. Ruffin did not indicate what caused the takeover. "Right now we have a lot going on that we're trying to get under control," he said. "I will release that information to the public as soon as I can." Windsor is about 120 miles east of Raleigh.