BOYDTON, Va. -- Convicts at Mecklenburg Correctional Center beat and stabbed two guards Saturday, held six other guards and a woman hostage, took over a cellblock and issued 14 demands to end 'barbaric' prison treatment.
The two injured guards were freed shortly after the noon uprising by about 40 convicts and were rushed to Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill. Both were in stable condition.
State police and off-duty guards were rushed to the prison, scene two months ago of the biggest Death Row breakout in the nation. Other inmates in the maximum-security prison near the North Carolina border were placed in a general lockdown.
Officials said the inmates were armed with homemade knives called 'shanks,' but there was no indication any of the hostages were hurt. Officials also said there had been no fires or other damage to the second-floor cellblock in Building No. 5.
A prison spokesman said warden Sherman Townley and police negotiators were talking with the unidentified leader of the rebellious convicts.
'Right at the moment, we've got six corrections officers and one female food service operator being held hostage,' said Virginia Corrections Department spokesman Wayne Farrar. 'The inmates have control of the floor -- the second floor of Building No. 5.
'We've heard them and we've talked to them,' Farrar said. 'The people who have to make the decision are strategizing.'
The woman hostage was a prison employee who was passing out food in the building when the convicts took control of the cellblock. There are five two-story cellblock buildings at the $20 million facility.
Prison spokesman Jerry Davis said the convicts made 14 demands, including the removal Townley, who recently replaced the warden demoted after the May 31 escape of six Death Row inmates.
The convicts also demanded to speak to officials of the American Civil Liberties Union. Authorities said Alvin Bronstein, director of the ACLU National Prison Project in Washington, and Chan Kendrick, Virginia ACLU executive director, were enroute to the 300-inmate prison.
The convicts also demanded to speak to officials of the American Civil Liberties Union. Authorities said Alvin Bronstein, director of the ACLU National Prison Project in Washington, arrived late Saturday night. Also expected was Chan Kendrick, Virginia ACLU executive director.
Davis said the prisoners at the 300-inmate prison wanted Bronstein to be their representative in talks with corrections officials.
Prison shift commander Robert Goode apparently satisfied one of the demands by reading over South Hill radio station WJWS a statement the rebellious inmates passed out of the building.
'On Aug. 4, 1984, at 12 o'clock p.m., the prisoners here at Mecklenburg Correctional Center Building 5 took control of security here at Building 5, with five security officers and one food service dietician,' the statement said.
'The takeover here is a quest to bring to light inhuman, cruel, barbaric treatment here at this institution. We the prisoners of Building 5 hereby take the only course of action to amend these conditions here at this institution.'
There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in numbers. Prison officials insisted the convicts were holding seven hostages.
Davis said the uprising began in the recreation yard when about six inmates attacked their guards.
'As far as we know it started with a small group. It snowballed from there,' said Davis. He said two guards were stabbed and beaten in the yard, then dragged to the second floor before being freed.
He said the convicts who started the uprising apparently released other inmates on the second floor cellblock to join them. He estimated 40 convicts were taking part in the uprising.
'At this point, there has been no official threat of bodily harm,' Davis said. 'They have forwarded a list outside of, basically, their demands.'
The ACLU filed suit againt the prison system in 1981, charging inhumane treatment of prisoners. A settlement was reached last July in which state officials promised to improve conditions.
Hospital officials said Cpl. Ernest Merritt, 31, underwent surgery for multiple stab wounds and Officer Leroy Williams, 37, was treated for multiple injuries to his face, chest, shoulders and back.
The hostages were identified as Cpl. Curtis Mangum, Larry Coleman, Elson Maintland, James Terry, William Johnson, Edwin Toombs and Alice Clary.
Death row, where six convicts staged a dramatic bomb scare and escaped May 31, is in another building at the 2-year-old institution, once used as a national model of an 'escape-proof' prison. The six death row fugitives were recaptured within a month and are now at other prisons.
Five Mecklenburg guards were fired and four officials were suspended without pay for 10 days and transferred to other duties after the daring Death Row escape.
Robert Landon, Corrections Department director, said from his Richmond office that he was in contact with personnel at Mecklenburg but could not immediately comment.
Farrar, however, said it was his understanding that 'there's nothing to negotiate at this point.'
At least 40 state troopers, Mecklenburg personnel and others were being scrambled to the prison just north of the North Carolina line by midafternoon. Farrar said officials had not yet settled on what strategy they would take.
'Right at the moment, we've got six corrections officers and one female food service operator being held hostage,' Farrar said. 'The inmates have control of the floor, the second floor of the Building number five.'
Death row, where six inmates staged a dramatic fake bomb scare and escaped May 31 is in another building. Those inmates were recaptured within a month and are now at other facilities.
Corrections officers complied with the prisoners' demand that a radio broadcast be made of their complaints about the facility. It was broadcast over a South Hill station, Farrar said, by a Corrections Department official.
There were other demands, he said, but they were not clear.
'Now at one time they had as many as eight officers and the woman food service officers hostage,' Farrar said. 'They released two of the officers that were injured in the scuffles that took place and those two injured officers were sent to the hospital in South Hill.'
The condition of the guards was not immediately available. They were being treated for stab wounds. Farrar speculated the prisoners were armed with homemade knives and other jail cell gear.
Discussions were still taking place at about 3:30 p.m. on how tohandle the situation, Farrar said.
'We're not in control of that floor,' said Farrar. 'One of the inmates who apparently assumed the role of a leader or a spokesman has communicated, using either the public address system, or radio, or telephone to communicate some of their demands,' he said.
The most specific demand, he said, is 'that we put a statement on the radio expressing discontent with some of the restrictions they're under.'
The inmates also want to talk to the warden, Farrar said. 'Apparently they have not drawn up a very specific list.'
The officers held hostage were Cpl. Curtis Mangum, Larry Coleman, Elson Maintland, James Terry, William Johnson, Edwin Toombs and Alice Clary.
Ms. Clary was on the floor serving food to prisoners when she was taken hostage.
The two injured and sent to the hospital were identified as Cpl. Ernest Merritt and Officer Leroy Williams. Merritt was stabbed in the head and Williams had stab wounds in the head and abdomen.
