Authorities end a takeover at a North Carolina jail hours after inmates
overpowered the guards
[June 30, 2026]
By JOHN RABY
Inmates overpowered correctional staff and took over parts of a jail in
eastern North Carolina early Monday, but the siege ended hours later
when law enforcement officers entered the facility and seized control.
Three guards and 88 inmates were inside the Bertie-Martin Regional
Detention Center in Windsor when the takeover began at about 5 a.m.,
prompting an immediate response from local, state and federal
authorities, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a
statement posted on social media.
By early afternoon, the Bureau of Investigation and the FBI had “cleared
the facility,” the state bureau said in a statement. ”All inmates and
staff are safe and accounted for, and those who sustained injuries have
received treatment.”
Inmates have been transferred to other facilities and the jail will
remain secured while the damage is assessed, the Bureau of Investigation
said. The 90-bed jail located about 120 miles (190 kilometers) east of
Raleigh houses pretrial detainees and short-term inmates for Bertie and
Martin counties.
Inmates took two guards captive and the third guard escaped.
Negotiations led to the release of the two guards along with 80 inmates,
leaving only eight inmates inside, Bertie County Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin
said at a news conference.
Ruffin said the two guards who were released were undergoing medical
treatment but he had no details about their injuries.
Most of the remaining inmates “complied and exited the facility as soon
as entry was made,” said Chad Flowers, a spokesperson for the State
Bureau of Investigation.
[to top of second column]
|
In this photo provided by the North Carolina State Bureau of
Investigation, law enforcement officers loads inmates for transport
Monday, June 29, 2026, at the Bertie-Martin Regional Detention
Center in Windsor, N.C. (North Carolina Bureau State Bureau of
Investigation via AP)
It wasn’t immediately known whether officers fired any lethal or
non-lethal rounds upon entering the jail. In a telephone interview,
Flowers said law enforcement officials were in a meeting about the
incident and unavailable late Monday afternoon.
Flowers also referred questions about the facility's security to a
jail administrator, who did not immediately return a telephone
message. Authorities have not addressed why there were three guards
overseeing the jail at the time of the takeover.
“The perpetrators must be held accountable for this horrifying
action," Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said on the social platform X.
"We also must do everything in our power to ensure this doesn’t
happen again — and that includes doing more to recruit, retain, and
compensate the county and state officials who are charged with
keeping our jails and prisons safe.”
Ruffin did not indicate what caused the takeover.
“Right now we have a lot going on that we're trying to get under
control," he said. "I will release that information to the public as
soon as I can.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
