ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) — Authorities say a Vermont prison inmate used a broken-off broom handle as a weapon to take another inmate hostage and demanded cigarettes and a hospital trip before he was disarmed three hours later.
There were no injuries in the incident at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans on Thursday night.
Michael Touchette, Corrections Department facilities director, says Matthew Hinton broke off the broom handle, which resulted in an approximately three-foot section with a pointed end. He took the inmate hostage. Negotiators talked to Hinton for about three hours before a tactical team intervened.
The Vermont State Police are investigating.
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