WAUPUN, Wis. -- A three-day lockdown was imposed today at the Waupun Correctional Institution, where rioting convicts seized 15 hostages and took control of two buildings in an eight-hour bloodless uprising that resulted in 'extensive' damage.
An assault team of 200 riot-clad officers stormed one of the buildings about six hours after the takeover began Monday and brought an end to the disturbance by 140 inmates in the prison school building and a dormitory.
None of the hostages -- 11 civilians and four guards -- was injured. Some wore blindfolds when they were rescued.
Inmates set desks on fire in the prison school and broke several windows, officials said. The dormitory building was ransacked and not useable, so prisoners were moved to other nearby institutions.
William Ball, a guard on the assault team, said 'at least 200' homemade weapons were found, including knives, broken-off scissors and broomsticks, but a state official said the prisoners were armed only with sticks.
'You couldn't live in there; the damage was extensive,' said Richard Rohr, president of Waupun State Prison Local 18, a guard's union. 'Desks and chairs were tipped over and smashed and windows were broken out.'
The hostages generally were close-mouthed.
'All I am going to say is that I am home. I'm going to eat supper and I'm going to calm down a little bit,' said Clifford Rogers, a prison employee.
'I'm going to have to think about this for a while,' said Florian Sieracke, a teacher. 'None of us was hurt.'
Linda Reivitz, secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services, said 'we really didn't negotiate, to be perfectly honest. We made the decision early in the day ... to go after the hostages.'
Prison officials imposed a three-day lockdown in which inmates were confined to their cells even for meals.
Overcrowding and the suicide of an inmate were cited as two primary reasons for the outburst at the 132-year-old facility -- built to handle 890 prisoners, but housing 1,240.
Some of the inmates involved were Hispanics reacting to the death of the inmate, a former Cuban refugee. Raphael Martinez, who last week allegedly tried to stab a nurse, was found hanging in his cell last weekend.
The school building was the first seized by about 100 prisoners who took 12 hostages. Another 40 inmates then took control of the adjacent dormitory-recreation building and seized three hostages. The assault was on the school building.
Prison officials sent the assault team into the school six hours later. Twelve hostages, including three teachers, were freed. About and hour and a half later the smaller band surrendered and freed the other three hostages.
Prisoners in the school building shouted 'give us 15 minutes and we'll surrender' when they saw the heavily-armed officers, said Ball, the assault team guard. 'They shoved the hostages out the front door.'
The brick-walled institution is located in a residential area on the edge of Waupun, about 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee. It opened in 1851 and is the state's largest prison.
On July 21, 1976, 88 inmates seized 14 hostages and held them for more than 13 hours. The incident ended peacefully after inmates were granted amnesty.
