Prisoners in Ohio Get TV Time, Release Hostage : Standoff: A spokesman for the inmates lists their demands during televised statement. He asks for more religious freedom for Muslims in the facility.

Rebellious inmates who have held a cellblock at a maximum-security prison since Sunday released a second hostage Friday after one of their leaders was granted television time to list their demands in a dramatic broadcast from the prison’s recreation yard.

The inmate spokesman, identifying himself as Abdul Samad Humein, shouted at cameras placed outside a double chain-link fence. He demanded more religious freedom for Muslim prisoners--including the right to wear Islamic dress and eat a special diet--and an end to tubercular testing by injection, which he said is against the Islamic faith.

Sitting at a wooden table, Humein also asked in an emotion-laden voice that further negotiating sessions with prison officials be attended by religious leaders and media representatives and that “no repercussion or reprisal” be taken against any of the 450 inmates involved in the insurrection.

He added that “forced integration” of prison cells must be eliminated.

Late Friday, a state corrections department spokeswoman said the inmates and prison representatives had agreed on “the necessary elements to achieve a successful negotiated conclusion to the standoff.”

The spokeswoman, Tessa Unwin, refused to elaborate. “The negotiations are really sensitive,” she said.

The hostage released Friday was 26-year-old guard James A. Demons, who minutes earlier had appeared on the broadcast with Humein. He seemed to be in good health but was taken from the prison grounds by ambulance and was not available to reporters.

It was the second release of a guard in as many days. Another guard was found murdered Thursday. At least five other guards are still being held hostage.

Darrold R. Clark Jr., the guard released earlier, was listed in fair condition Friday at a hospital in nearby Portsmouth, Ohio.

The remaining hostages are in good condition and are being treated well, according to a statement read on behalf of Clark on Friday.

Clark’s father read the message on the country-music radio station that Thursday aired a monologue from an inmate in a deal that led to Clark’s release.

The inmate, identified only as George, was allowed to make a live broadcast in which he complained about prison conditions and called for the warden’s ouster.

With the concurrence of prison officials, Humein’s 10-minute speech and a brief response by two unidentified state negotiators who sat beside him was broadcast by Columbus, Ohio, TV station WBNS.

The broadcast originally had been scheduled for six hours earlier but was delayed because of technical problems and because prisoners wanted more time to prepare statements.

From the beginning, inmates have been demanding access to the media, but prison officials have insisted that one or more hostages first be released.

The inmate spokesman also demanded that “nepotism” be eliminated in the hiring of corrections officials and added: “We have been oppressed by Warden Arthur Tate.”

In response to these demands, the two state negotiators who appeared on the broadcast said they would consider what Humein had requested.

“We will begin to deal with these issues as we have already done so,” one said. “We wish to come to a peaceful and safe resolution with you.”

The rebellion, in its sixth day Friday, has involved about a fourth of the 1,819 inmates at Ohio’s only maximum-security prison. The disturbance is confined to a section known as L Block but other prisoners at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility have been confined to their cells since the rioting started.

Water and electricity to L Block have been cut off since Monday, but prison officials delivered some food and water Wednesday as a gesture of good faith.

Demons, when he appeared in the prison yard with the inmate spokesman, was dressed in a pale blue-and-green robe and cap. He said he had adopted an Islamic name meaning “the chosen strong one.”

Demons said he had been “scared for my life . . . so I just adjusted to the Nation of Islam.”

Referring to seven inmates killed in the insurrection, the guard added: “The Muslims did not kill them. Those boys were killed because they were snitches. That’s what it boils down to.”

He added that “the institution has done everybody just wrong by keeping everybody in there so long.”

It was not clear whether Demons’ statements were made willingly or whether he had been coerced.