Sixteen of the 37 prisoners at the Lycoming County Prison

Staged a “sit down” strike in the television room in the cell block at 9:30 last night and were returned to their cells by police.

The rebellion was set off by an unidentified prisoner who took all the heavy padlocks off the individual cells during the afternoon and threw them over the prison walls. Most of the locks were recovered, but the rebellious inmates apparently believed prison personnel could not lock them in their cells.

When the 16 refused to return to their cells at 9:30, the time all prisoners are locked in their cells for the night, police were summoned.

Eighteen officers—13 from the city police force and five from the Montoursville state police barracks — who were assembled at City Hall in anticipation of trouble at the prison because of the lock incident, converged on the prison.

They returned all 16 to their cells between 9:45 and 10:15.

Only 1 of the 16, James Black, a parole violator, resisted. He was forcibly carried to his cell by three police officers.

Police said Black broke the glass door on a bookcase in the TV room and attempted to slash himself. Cpl. Alex Basceski of the state police tried to stop him and suffered a severe cut on his left finger.

Black who was screaming and yelling, was dragged from the room on the upper tier of the cell block to a cell at the far end of the room.

While there was no official statement from the county prison board last night, it is understood further disciplinary action will be taken against the rebellious 16.

Compiled by Lou Hunsinger Jr.