El Dorado Correctional Facility cancels Saturday's visitation
UPDATE (6/30/17, 3:14 p.m.) - Visitation has been canceled at the El Dorado Correctional Facility due to the incident that happened on Thursday.
The prison says there will be no visitation for any offenders on Saturday, July 1, 2017.
Visitation will resume on Sunday, July 2. However, there will be no visitation for offenders in G and L cell house until further notice.
_____
UPDATE (10:00 p.m.) -The Kansas Department of Corrections says the situation at the El Dorado Correctional Facility was resolved at about 5 p.m. Thursday, but at about 8 p.m., our crew on scene saw an ambulance arrive at the facility. It's unknown if this is related to the disturbance earlier in the day that began, the KDOC says, when a group of inmates refused to return to their cells.
And as of Thursday night, there is confusion about exactly what went on at the prison.
Access to the facility was blocked throughout the day Thursday. The department of corrections emphasized that no force was used by staff members and inmate did not have access to weapons.
However, family members of prison staff say they heard reports of injuries.
Robert Choromanski with the Kansas Organization of State Employees represents many of the correctional officers in El Dorado. He says Thursday's incident is a result of the staffing shortage there.
"If you have 120 vacancies at El Dorado, you're asking for trouble," he says.
By the time Eyewitness News spoke with Choromanski Thursday, the department of corrections said the incident was resolved, but he doesn't buy that.
"From what I understand, I can't get a hold of my union steward because they're on lockdown," Choromanski says. "If they're on lockdown, that means that the facility phone lines are disconnected. And the correctional officers that are working there, they can't answer their personal phones or anything."
The union representative Eyewitness News spoke with says situations like this will continue if the staffing issue isn't fixed soon at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
_____
UPDATE (5:30 p.m) - The Kansas Department of Corrections reiterates that there were no incidents of violence that occurred during the disturbance at the El Dorado Correctional Facility and "at no time during the incident were any weapons accessed by offenders."
"As is normal response in such an incident, support from other KDOC facilities were summoned for backup. By about 5 p.m., the situation was resolved returned to their cells," the KDOC says.
The KDOC says it "will conduct a review of the event and take actions as necessary to prevent further incidents in the future."
_____
UPDATE (3:40 p.m.) - The Kansas Department of Corrections reports that inmates who refused to return to their cells Thursday morning have been contained and "measures to return to normal are underway" at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
The entrance to the facility remains blocked off, as it has for most of the day. The Kansas Department of Corrections say the facility is secure, but has not said if the situation inside the prison is under control.
We’ve seen internal communication notes from prison staff which seems to indicate people did get hurt, but prison officials deny that, saying there were no injuries to employees or inmates.
------
UPDATE-- 2:40 p.m.: We have learned that Governor Sam Brownback's office has been made aware of the ongoing situation at the El Dorado Correctional Facility. The only information provided by the Kansas Department of Corrections is in the statement below, saying it started Thursday morning when a group of inmates refused to return to their cells and that there were no reports of injuries to inmates nor staff.
The Kansas Department of Corrections says the staff at El Dorado includes 310 uniformed positions out of 425 authorized positions.
Earlier this week, we told you about
and that this move comes despite the El Dorado prison being about 90 employees short.
------
UPDATE-- 2:30 p.m.: A Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman released the following statement Thursday afternoon, updating the situation at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
-----
We have received several phone calls and emails about extra activity at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.
.A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Corrections says at this time, he has no information to pass along about the situation.
We also have a crew at the prison that reports a majority of vehicles approaching the property have been turned away.
Stay tuned on-air and online for updates.
