BY ANANDA SHOREY, The Associated Press
BUCKEYE, Ariz. (AP) - Negotiators began a fourth day of talks Wednesday with two prison inmates who took a pair of correctional officers hostage in a guard tower.
“The dialogue with the inmates is continuing,” said Cam Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. “They’re (negotiators) going to ride this thing out as long as it takes.”
Prison officials have declined to characterize the negotiations, but Hunter said the restricted airspace around the prison has been increased, pushing the perimeter out to 3 miles around and up to 5,000 feet.
The restrictions were increased partly to avoid alarming the inmates, said Ivan Bartos, the warden at the state prison in Yuma, who has been assisting in the standoff. “Some of the most innocent things could derail something that’s taken hours to build,” he said.
Negotiators got their first glimpse of the correctional officers on Tuesday, and they appeared to be OK, Hunter said. The guards were allowed to speak briefly to law enforcement by radio.
The sighting of the officers helped reassure family members and prison officials while negotiations continued, Hunter said. Negotiators did not see the inmates, she said.
The identities of the inmates and guards have not been released.
The standoff began Sunday morning after an inmate attacked a guard in the prison kitchen. The prisoner and another inmate then got into an observation tower where the two guards, one male and one female, were stationed.
Prison officials had initially said the male guard was injured, though they did not disclose details of the injury.
Until the crisis is resolved, the 4,400 inmates at the medium- to high-security Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis remain in lockdown, meaning no one was is allowed in the yards and inmate movement is more heavily restricted.
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On the Net:
Arizona Department of Corrections: www.adc.state.az.us