2 prisons have flare-ups as one quiets down

November 6, 1981

Explosions erupted in at least two prisons as a hostage-taking ended at the Eastern State Correctional Institute in Graterford, Pa. About 40 inmates armed with makeshift weapons battled with guards at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown. The prisoners barricaded themselves into a basement and only came out when they were chemically gased.

And at the maximum-security Connecticut Correctional Institution in Somers, a prison gym brawl turned into a three-hour hostage siege that ended peacefully with a prison supervisor turned loose after a spree of equipment smashing.