Prison inmate takes corrections officer hostage 5 to 7 minutes; no one injured

Staff report

LEAVITTSBURG

An inmate at Trumbull Correctional Institution took a corrections officer hostage with a homemade knife for between 5 and 7 minutes Saturday in the medical department at the prison but gave up peacefully, and no one was injured.

Sgt. Ronald Scheider of the criminal investigative unit of the Ohio State Highway Patrol said a second corrections officer talked the inmate into giving up the weapon, a sharpened piece of metal, and the inmate was taken into custody.

The incident began at 5:25 p.m. The identities of the inmate and corrections officer are not being released.

When the patrol is finished with its investigation, it will turn over the information to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office for criminal charges, Schneider said.

The patrol has a plain-clothes investigator assigned to the prison, who works there three to four days per week depending on the number of investigations necessary.