(no subject)
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Officials bought 15 pizzas to secure the release of a guard who had been held for 42 hours by inmates at an Australian top-security prison.
Police said Monday 20 prisoners were involved in the standoff, which began Saturday afternoon when inmates occupied part of Risdon Prison on the southern island state of Tasmania, complaining about conditions in the aging institution and taking guard Ken Hannah hostage.
Hannah finally was released late Sunday night after authorities caved in to demands for pizza.
"The final sticking point with the inmates was that they were requiring pizzas to be delivered," said senior prisons official Graeme Barber.
"We had held off in relation to that - we obviously wanted the release of our staff member," he added. "Our staff member was negotiated out by the delivery of 15 pizzas."
The last prisoner involved in the siege gave himself up Monday morning. There were no injuries in the standoff.
The siege followed months of violence and unrest at Risdon, which holds one of Australia's most notorious convicts, Martin Bryant, who went on a shooting rampage at Tasmania's Port Arthur historic penal settlement in 1996 killing 35 people.
15 pizzas...thats alot of cheese...i mean alot...i should know seeing as i work at a pizza place. But than again my mind may be playing tricks on me or something. Now that i think of it i do know one pie (yes one single pie) that holds that much cheese by itself. That pie belongs to... nevermind...
Police said Monday 20 prisoners were involved in the standoff, which began Saturday afternoon when inmates occupied part of Risdon Prison on the southern island state of Tasmania, complaining about conditions in the aging institution and taking guard Ken Hannah hostage.
Hannah finally was released late Sunday night after authorities caved in to demands for pizza.
"The final sticking point with the inmates was that they were requiring pizzas to be delivered," said senior prisons official Graeme Barber.
"We had held off in relation to that - we obviously wanted the release of our staff member," he added. "Our staff member was negotiated out by the delivery of 15 pizzas."
The last prisoner involved in the siege gave himself up Monday morning. There were no injuries in the standoff.
The siege followed months of violence and unrest at Risdon, which holds one of Australia's most notorious convicts, Martin Bryant, who went on a shooting rampage at Tasmania's Port Arthur historic penal settlement in 1996 killing 35 people.
15 pizzas...thats alot of cheese...i mean alot...i should know seeing as i work at a pizza place. But than again my mind may be playing tricks on me or something. Now that i think of it i do know one pie (yes one single pie) that holds that much cheese by itself. That pie belongs to... nevermind...