Nebraska Prisoners Riot and Take Control of Maximum Security Facility

At least two people are dead after prisoners took control of a maximum security prison in Nebraska.

CBS News reports that the riot broke out at the the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. The immediate cause of the riot seems to have been an effort by prison guards to disperse a large group that had gathered outside a housing unit around 2:30 p.m. May 10.

Omaha.com reports that the inmates took control of two housing units and number of adminstrative offices. The inmates then made calls to the media and family members. There is a total of five housing units at Tecumseh, and the prisoners did not gain control of the housing unit with solitary confinement.

The prisoners are said to have destroyed property and started a number of small fires.

A prison official told Omaha.com he could not say for sure what exactly sparked the riot, but noted the facility has been chronically overstaffed, with employees working mandatory overtime.

Omaha.com also notes that Nebraska's prisons are filled past their design limitations. The Nebraska prison system currently houses 1,938 more prisoners than it was designed to. That figure does not include the 173 prisoners being held at county jails because of the state system's inability to absorb them.

The two deaths were inmates, while two staff members and another prisoner were injured. The prisoner is said to have been shot by a rubber bullet. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says that no inmates have escaped, and all the members of its staff at the facility have been accounted for.

The exterior of the prison was secured by 9:30 p.m. but authorities were still trying to regain control of the interior of the prison as late as 2:30 a.m.