117 Inmates Take Over Section Of Downtown St. Louis Jail

More than 100 inmates took over a section of the City Justice Center in downtown St. Louis, injuring a corrections officer at the facility, officials said.

The incident began around 2:30 a.m. Saturday in a fourth-floor unit when a “defiant” inmate “who was very, very upset” got into a fight with the corrections officer, Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards said at a news conference.

The officer was then jumped by other inmates in the unit.

During the fight, several detainees were able to “jimmy” the locks on their cells, open them and get into the unit, according to Edwards.

As jail employees were trying to get the corrections officer to safety, the inmates accessed a lock panel system and “other detainees were released from their cells into the unit.”

Edwards said the unit was breached and inmates were able to get into a hallway. A second unit on the floor also “started to have defiant detainees,” he said.

Read more at NBC.

{Matzav.com}