Miss. prison riot leaves guard dead, 6 hurt

Smoke rises above the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Miss., Sunday, May 20, 201, during an inmate disturbance at the prison. A guard at the southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several other employees were injured during what the facility's private operator is calling "an inmate disturbance" that continued into the evening. (AP Photos/The Natchez Democrat, Lauren Wood)

Smoke rises above the Adams County Correctional Center in Natchez, Miss., Sunday, May 20, 201, during an inmate disturbance at the prison. A guard at the southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several other employees were injured during what the facility's private operator is calling "an inmate disturbance" that continued into the evening. (AP Photos/The Natchez Democrat, Lauren Wood)

BRANDON, Miss. (AP) ? A prison guard was killed Sunday during a riot that also injured five other correctional officers and hurt at least one inmate at a privately run facility in Mississippi that holds illegal immigrants, authorities said.

The riot began about 2:40 p.m. CDT and involved dozens of inmates before it was brought under control late Sunday night. Adams County Coroner James Lee confirmed that a guard died, but said he could not provide any other details until the correctional officer's family was notified.

Emilee Beach, a spokeswoman at the Adams County Correctional Center in southwest Mississippi, said the uprising involved "multiple" inmates but she wasn't sure exactly how many because the investigation was still ongoing.

She said that after the disturbance was brought under control, inmates were being searched and sent back to their cells.

Beach said the prison, owned and operated by Corrections Corp. of America, holds illegal immigrants, most for charges of re-entering the United States after being deported. Beach said the disturbance was brought under control late Sunday.

The five injured guards were taken to a hospital and treated for injuries that weren't considered life-threatening.

The 2,567-bed prison houses male illegal immigrants for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. State and local law-enforcement officers were called in case they were needed for backup.

CCA spokesman Steve Owen confirmed in an email "there has been one employee death" but he said he could not provide more details immediately. CCA said in a news release earlier Sunday that "the inner compound and portions of housing units are the focus of remaining efforts to quell the disturbance."

Adams County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Emily Ham said no inmates had escaped the facility.

Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield told the Natchez Democrat that 15 employees were freed at one time during the uprising by opening a fence and protecting the route with guns.

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Associated Press writer Norman Gomlak contributed to this report from Atlanta.

Associated Press

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