2 More Inmates Found Dead at Ohio Prison

Investigators found the bodies of two more inmates Thursday as they began to sift through debris left when maximum-security prisoners ransacked a cellblock during a 10-day standoff at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility.

In Columbus, lawmakers ordered investigations into the siege, which left nine inmates and one guard dead.

Prisoners gave up Wednesday during a seven-hour televised broadcast that they said was a condition for their surrender. Five guards held hostage since April 11 were released as the last of the prisoners were taken to an adjacent cellblock.

The guards were in stable condition Thursday at the Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth. The hospital did not disclose what they were suffering from.

Authorities and inmates agreed to 20 other points, including a review of living and working conditions at the prison.

Corrections spokesman Mike Lee said that all of the inmates were accounted for and that he did not know what caused the deaths of the two inmates found Thursday.

Col. Thomas Rice, superintendent of the State Highway Patrol, said there was “quite a bit of damage” in the cellblock.

“Mattresses and doors, anything you can imagine that would be in a penal institution, are all over the place,” he said. Authorities had to “cut a path” to the place where one body was found Thursday.

A military explosives team searched the cellblock for booby traps and explosives.

Prison spokeswoman Sharron Kornegay said that there were 409 inmates in the cellblock during the standoff--including the two found dead Thursday--not 450 as officials had originally stated.

She said 129 of the rebellious inmates were transferred Thursday to the Mansfield Correctional Institution, about 140 miles northeast of Lucasville, to relieve overcrowding.

In Columbus, House Speaker Vern Riffe, whose district includes the prison, said the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee had been asked to investigate the standoff. The state patrol was conducting a separate criminal investigation, as was the Scioto County prosecutor’s office.