Inmate calls reporter while holding officer hostage

WARREN, Ohio - Three inmates took a correction officer hostage at an Ohio county jail for several hours Wednesday and one of the inmates called CBS affiliate WOIO in the middle of the incident.

"I don't want to be in the county jail. It's a matter of time before one of those guys snaps at [inaudible]. So I just took control and I want to control what I want to do," inmate David Martin told WOIO after dialing the station Wednesday afternoon.

Martin said he was upset about a newspaper article that he claims made him look crazy. He told the station he was calling on corrections officer Joe Lynn's cell phone, while holding Lynn hostage in his jail cell.

"The C.O. who I got now, he's willing to take a polygraph test to tell the news media and to prove to the courts outside of my case that I never made that threat that they had me in the newspaper. Making me look bad in my case. It's bad enough I'm facing the death penalty," Martin said in the call.

The reporter who Martin was speaking with asked him to let the officer go safely.

"I can't get talked down. I need the story to get out there. I have nothing to lose. I'm in a situation where I'm calm as of now," Martin said.

Martin went on to say that he had nothing to lose and wanted to make it clear that he is innocent and his character was wrongly portrayed.

The inmates grabbed the corrections officer at the Trumbull County Jail in Warren as he was making his rounds. They allegedly put him in a choke-hold, held a homemade knife to his neck and then handcuffed him, reports the station.

Other employees left the jail, and streets in the area were closed as police swarmed and a hostage negotiator was brought in.

The FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, and local police helped.

Lynn was eventually released unharmed and the three inmates were taken to a maximum-security facility.

Trumbull County Sheriff's Office Major Thomas Stewart said the situation ended peacefully after the inmates talked to hostage negotiators and "decided to give it up."

He says Lynn wasn't physically harmed but is being evaluated.