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Inmate releases hostage, surrendersMaximum-security prison standoff ends peacefully after 11 hours
![]() Calfornia State Prison in Sacramento has been locked down after a guard was taken hostage. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- An inmate who used a homemade weapon to take a female guard hostage at a maximum-security California prison Saturday surrendered peacefully after speaking to a family member, prison officials said. No one was reported injured during the ordeal. Michael David Watson, 41, gave up after holding the guard hostage for 11 hours, during which time authorities negotiated her release, said Capt. Fred Schroeder, a prison spokesman for the California State Prison in Sacramento. "He asked for us to contact a family member," Schroeder said. "Through that contact it appeared he would be assured of his safety. That is what ultimately brought this to a resolution." Though guard Sheila Mitchell did not seem hurt, she was taken to a hospital for an evaluation, said Lt. Joyce McClendon, another spokesperson. Watson is being transferred to another prison, McClendon said. The prison and its 3,300 inmates will remain in lockdown while authorities conduct an investigation, Schroeder said. Watson had requested to be sent to another prison, but the decision to move him was based on the prison's needs, not his, the spokesman told reporters. No other details were released. The incident began at 7:10 a.m. local time (10:10 a.m. ET) when Watson used a 6-inch-long "stabbing instrument" to overtake Mitchell in the prison dining room, Schroeder said. Both Watson and Mitchell had been assigned to dining room duties. After prison staff secured the area, Watson took Mitchell to an office area in the dining room. The rest of the prison was quiet. Watson is serving more than 26 years for robbery and three counts of false imprisonment, according to the prison. He has been in jail since November 1994. Schroeder said Watson has a history of disciplinary problems, "but not along the lines of this incident here." He didn't elaborate.
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