Hostages taken at Delaware prison, facility locked down

Hostages were taken at a men's prison in Delaware and the facility was locked down on Wednesday, a state Department of Correction spokeswoman said.

The James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in the town of Smyrna, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Wilmington, was locked down between 10:30 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET (1530-1600 GMT), spokeswoman Jayme Gravell said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were taken hostage or what roles they have at the prison, Gravell said.

'We have very limited information,” she said.

ABC 7 television news, citing the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, reported the hostages were prison guards.

The Department of Correction Response Teams and the Delaware State Police are responding to the prison, which houses about 2,500 minimum to maximum security inmates.

An aerial view of the prison showed about two dozen men standing in three groups on an open space of prison's sprawling campus. It was not clear if the men were prisoners or law enforcement.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; Additional reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Alan Crosby)