Corrections officers were beaten with hammers and stabbed with scissors, a fire was spreading inside the prison and inmates were running for the fence.
Those were some of the facts relayed by frantic Pasquotank Correctional Institution workers to 911 dispatchers during an attempted prison break on Oct. 12.
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"We need you guys right now," a woman repeatedly tells a dispatcher. "We've got inmates trying to jump over the fence."
"We just need everything – fire department, ambulance – we just need everything here right now," another woman says in a separate 911 call.
Corrections officer Justin Smith, 35, and Correction Enterprises manager Veronica Darden, 50, were killed in the escape attempt. Ten other prison employees and four inmates were injured during the incident.
Justin Smith and Veronica Darden
Four inmates were charged Friday with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Smith and Darden: Mikel Brady, 28, Jonathan Monk, 30, Seth J. Frazier, 33, and Wisezah Buckman, 29. Authorities said other charges are pending against them.
All four have been moved to Central Prison or Polk Correctional Institution in Butner for higher security.
From left: Mikel Brady, Jonathan Monk, Seth Frazier, Wisezah Buckman
Inmates working in a Correction Enterprises sewing plant in the maximum-security section of the Elizabeth City prison launched the attack and set a fire in the plant, authorities said.
A woman who was the first to report the incident told a 911 dispatcher that she was in a locked office in the prison's maintenance department, and she could see through a window that an officer was injured.
"I can see the officer is down," she says. "The officer is alive because I can see him moving his arm, but he's not getting up."
"We've got three officers down that we know of, and there's still a disturbance going on," prison employee Brad Davenport tells a dispatcher. "I think they were beaten with a hammer, but we're not exactly sure."
"Where are the prisoners? Are they running loose?" the dispatcher asks.
"Some of them are. They're inside the fence, but they're running loose," Davenport responds.
Radio traffic can be heard during Davenport's 21-minute call about inmates running on foot as corrections officers and various law enforcement agencies tried to establish a perimeter around the prison.
"We need mutual aid. There's only two (available) deputies," the dispatcher tells someone at the communications center.
"The inmates are climbing over fences," she reports.
"They're interior fences, not the exterior fence," Davenport informs the dispatcher. "They're still fighting (corrections) officers."
"They've got one of them in cuffs," Davenport says a short time later as he watches prison cameras on his computer.
He reports that some inmates are closing in on the outer fence, adding, "They need to just go ahead and shoot them."
Davenport then tells another employee that they "need to get together and be ready to fight" in case other inmates remain loose inside the prison.
State Highway Patrol troopers and Camden County deputies responded to the prison to help bring the situation under control, and radio traffic indicates they were planning where to set up blockades.
The injured officers "are in very bad shape," Davenport tells the dispatcher. "They beat them with hammers and stabbed them with scissors."
He later reports a standoff between corrections officers and one inmate.
"Maintain perimeter," someone tells law enforcement officers.
Dispatchers then report that school buses are traveling near the prison, and schools need to be notified of the situation.
"All of the inmates are accounted for right now," someone reports at the end of the call.
"It looks like they've got the situation pretty much under control," Davenport tells the dispatcher. "It looks like the sprinkler system might have put the fire out. ... There's still a lot of smoke in the hallway."
Secretary of Public Safety Erik Hooks permanently closed the sewing plant and has ordered a review of all inmates assigned to work in Correction Enterprises operations in prisons statewide. Any who have been convicted of a violent crime against a government official or law enforcement officer will be barred from working with cutting or "impact tools" without approval of prison officials while those convicted of any assault will be temporarily suspended from such activities, he said.
Hooks also requested that the National Institute of Corrections conduct a review of the safety and security operations at the prison, as well as all aspects of Correction Enterprises’ safety protocols, including staffing patterns, inmate worker placement assessments, training and operating procedures.
The state also will form an advisory committee to recommend new technology and devices to enhance the safety of prison and Correction Enterprises staff, prison facilities and plant operations, Hooks said.
More than 15 percent of corrections positions at North Carolina prisons are vacant, according to the Fiscal Research Division of the General Assembly.
Lawmakers have put money in the state budget to provide an extra $724 million over the next 10 years to increase salaries of corrections officers in hopes of attracting more applicants and retaining current officers, said Joseph Kyzer, a spokesman for House Speaker Tim Moore.