Officials regain control of Nebraska maximum-security prison. Two inmates found dead.

Staff members were attempting to break up a large gathering of inmates in front of a housing unit when the disturbance began, James Foster, a department spokesman, said in a statement.

|
Anna Gronewold/AP
The the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution is seen Monday, in Tecomseh, Neb. Inmates at the maximum security prison in southeastern Nebraska have taken control of at least part of the facility in an incident that left two staff members and two prisoners injured, according to the state Department of Correctional Services.

Two inmates were found dead Monday at a maximum security prison in southeast Nebraska after officials regained control of the facility.

Inmates took control of at least part of the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution Sunday during an incident when two staff members and two inmates were injured, according to the state Department of Correctional Services.

Staff members were attempting to break up a large gathering of inmates in front of a housing unit when the disturbance began, James Foster, a department spokesman, said in a statement.

Foster said officers regained control of the facility that houses 11 death row inmates on Monday. The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating the deaths.

There were no reports of any escapes.

Smoke rose from two housing units on Sunday and driveways to the prison were blocked, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. Butprison officials said the exterior of the facility was secured by Sunday evening and all staffers were accounted for.

Early Monday, no more smoke could be seen and employees were being allowed into the facility.

The Journal Star reported it received a call from inmate Jeffry Frank just before 11 p.m. Sunday via a case manager's office phone.

"We've pretty much taken the whole prison," Frank told the newspaper.

He said that no prison employees were inside the housing unit and described the scene, saying: "The ceilings are fallen. There's drywall on fire. There's cameras torn down," according to the Journal Star.

Foster told the Omaha World-Herald that inmates had gained access to an office with a phone.

The 960-bed Tecumseh State Correctional Institution opened in 2001 in Johnson County, about 60 miles southwest of Lincoln.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Officials regain control of Nebraska maximum-security prison. Two inmates found dead.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0511/Officials-regain-control-of-Nebraska-maximum-security-prison.-Two-inmates-found-dead
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe