NCJ Number
185135
Journal
Corrections Technology and Management Volume: 4 Issue: 5 Dated: September/October 2000 Pages: 20-24
Date Published
2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This is the first part of a two-part series that chronicles in detail the taking of a jail guard as a hostage at the Grafton County Jail (New Hampshire) in 1995, based on interviews with the guard taken hostage and others involved in the hostage rescue.
Abstract
The hostage, Ed Peterson, describes how he was taken hostage by three inmates as he routinely brought them from their cells to the dining area for breakfast. Peterson describes how he was held by two inmates while a third punched him in the face. After he was knocked down, he was kicked, choked with a cord, and battered in the head with his radio. Meanwhile, the inmates kept yelling to the guard in the control room to open the cellblock door or Peterson would be killed. Peterson continued to tell the inmates that one of the cardinal rules of the jail was that the cellblock door would never be opened except as scheduled. The door was not opened, and Peterson was dragged by the inmates to a cell out of the view of the control room. An interview with the jail superintendent focuses on the staff response to the hostage taking and the rationale for the actions that were taken. Part I concludes with the superintendent's decision to bring in a trained negotiator rather than to attempt a rescue of Peterson by force.