‘It’s a trap’: Prison guard killed at jail saved his colleagues’ lives with warning

A prison guard killed during a disturbance at Delaware’s largest jail saved his colleagues’ lives by warning them that inmates had set a trap, a US corrections union official said.

Union president Geoffrey Klopp said that after prisoners forced Sergeant Steven Floyd into a cupboard, the 47-year-old called out to warn other officers coming to his aid. Mr Klopp said this action “absolutely” saved lives.

“Even in his last moments, as the inmates attempted to take over the building, Sgt Floyd told a couple of lieutenants to get out of the building and that it was a trap,” he said.

Sgt Floyd was found dead early on Thursday after authorities used a digger to smash through a barricade of lockers and end a nearly 20-hour hostage stand-off at the James T Vaughn Correctional Centre.

The guard had worked at the prison for 16 years and is the first corrections officer in Delaware to be killed. Mr Klopp said Sgt Floyd went the “extra mile for any human being he could help”.

A second hostage, a female counsellor, was rescued minutes after tactical teams forced their way into a building at the all-male, 2,500-prisoner facility.

Delaware Governor John Carney called the uprising a “torturous” ordeal.

In a statement, he said authorities would hold those responsible to account and “make whatever changes are necessary to ensure nothing like it ever happens again”.

Authorities did not immediately explain how Sgt Floyd died. They said inmates used “sharp instruments” to seize Building C and hold the officer hostage along with two other prison guards and a counsellor.

Mr Klopp said inmates staged a fight to lure Sgt Floyd, who radioed for help. They then turned on him, forcing him into the cupboard.