ELIZABETH CITY, N.C., Oct. 12, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A prison in northeast North Carolina has been placed on lockdown after officials say inmates started a fire as part of an attempted jail break.
The fire broke out in the sewing plant area of the Pasquotank Correctional Institute, a high-security facility that houses 729 men, according to information from North Carolina Public Safety. It started at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
Several employees were injured, another tweet said, promising more information as it became available. The fire has since been extinguished.
A report by NBC News said nine patients were taken to Sentara Albemarle Medical Center, according to an official there, and two of them would be transferred to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, across the state line in Virginia, which was expecting five additional patients.
The official did not indicate if the injured were prison employees, law enforcement personnel or inmates.
According to the local school district, an elementary school, middle school and high school were placed on lockout for a brief period.
“Due to an incident that is taking place at the local jail north of town, Northside Elementary, Elizabeth City Middle School and Pasquotank County High School have been placed on lock down at the advice of Emergency Management,” the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public School District said in a statement.
“Students on buses who had not arrived home already, were brought back to the schools due to the potential of inmates being in the area and students in transport. We also did not want the possibility of students being home alone with the potential of having inmates in the area.”
