UPDATE: Female prison officer rescued

UPDATE: 03/10/2013 - 10.47AM

The female prison officer was rescued last night by the special forces unit when they were finally able to overpower the 4 prisoners holding her hostage. The female officer was unhurt after the 13 hour ordeal and has thanked everyone involved in getting her out safely. As a matter of precaution she was taken to the Rosepark Hospital for a medical check up and treatment.

The 13 hour ordeal started when the prisoners grabbed the officer and pulled her into one of the cells with them and locked the door. Male guards tried to pull her free as she was being dragged away but both were attacked and stabbed in their arms with what they now know to be pieces of scissors. Both the male officers were treated at the scene and their condition was deemed 'not serious'.

There was minimal force used to free the officer and no shots were fired. The hostage takers were arrested and will be charged with kidnapping and attempted murder of the 2 G4S employees who were injured earlier in the day. The prisoners are currently serving sentences for rape, murder and robbery.

A good outcome for all involved but apparently this is not the first time this has happened at this exact prison. Hopefully measurements will be put in place to make sure this never happens again but somehow this seems highly unlikely - as long as there are staff shortages, this problem will no doubt keep rearing it's head.

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02/10/2013 - BREAKING STORY: What do we know?

• The female guard is being held by 4 prisoners
• No demands have been made as yet. 
• SAPS Special Task Force along with security company G4S are working on her release.
• 3 other people have been injured
• Many people are blaming the shortage of staff for this incident 

Background

Everything seems to be sketchy at the moment but apparently there were over 300 police and Prison Civil Rights Union members dismissed earlier this year and because of the staff shortage the woman guard was encouraged to help out with guarding the prisoners. G4S has said that all it's staff are fully trained for hostage situations and that they also have provisions in place for handling hostage scenarios.

G4S says that they are doing everything in their power to rescue their employee.

We really hope it's over soon for that poor woman and hope that she gets back safely to her family...

... developing story