By Joan McDonough
The Island Packet (Hilton Head Island, S.C.)
Inmates were on the roof during what officials were calling an “isolated incident” and a “situation” at an upstate South Carolina prison Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Prisoners were allegedly trying to escape McCormick Correctional Institute, but no inmates escaped and the situation was contained by shortly after 6 p.m., according to the McCormick County Sheriff’s Office.
Inmates in one section of the prison allegedly started a fire and went to the roof of the facility in an attempt to escape, according to WRDW in Augusta, Ga. South Carolina Department of Corrections officers used tear gas inside and outside of the facility, Jason Brown with McCormick Emergency Services told the news organization.
The Department of Corrections confirmed that several inmates were on the roof of the prison but said it was not, in fact, an escape route, according to Live 5 News. The department also denied on social media that there was a fire at the facility.
Staff members were all safe and accounted for, according to a Department of Corrections tweet. There was no information put out on social media about the condition of the inmates by about 8 p.m.
Apparently following a rumor that there were disturbances throughout the prison, the department followed up with the public via Twitter, explaining the incident was in just one housing unit.
https://twitter.com/SCDCNews/status/915693128471973888
McCormick is a Level 3, male facility, according to the department of corrections website.
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(c)2017 The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.)