Two prison guards are still being held by a group of inmates who have taken over part of a Delaware jail in a protest over President Donald Trump.

Prisoners seized five officers at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna. So far three of the officers have been released, along with 41 inmates.

Inmates contacted a local newspaper to highlight their concerns, which included a fear of Trump and complaints over the lack of access to education and rehabilitation services.

James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware went into lockdown on Wednesday as police swarmed the facility due to a hostage situation

Delaware State Police spokesman Sgt. Richard Bratz (center) said the incident began around 10:30am when a correctional officer inside Building C, which houses over 100 inmates, radioed for immediate assistance

Video courtesy of WBOC

Prisons across the state were placed in lockdown as authorities feared copycat demonstrations.

A large group of law enforcement officers surrounded the 2,500-inmate facility while negotiations with the ringleaders progressed.

So far, three officers and two dozen prisoners - who may have also been hostages - have been released.

Robert Coupe, secretary of the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, said 27 inmates also left the building that's been the scene of negotiations all day.

Authorities said they didn't know whether the inmates had been held against their will.

Authorities believe the takeover began around 10.30am yesterday when a prison officer inside Building C called for back-up.

According to Sergeant Richard Bratz of Delaware State Police, there are more than 100 inmates housed in Building C.

Other officers responded to help, and five Department of Corrections employees were taken hostage.

Five guards were taken hostage at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware at 10:30am on Wednesday

Firefighters were called to the scene after reports of smoke and were being held on standby

Later in the afternoon, prisoners contacted their local newspaper, The News Journal in Wilmington with the help of one inmate's fiancée and another person's mother. The mother told the paper her son was among the hostages.

In that call, an inmate said their reasons 'for doing what we're doing' included 'Donald Trump. Everything that he did. All the things that he's doing now. We know that the institution is going to change for the worse.'

That caller said education for prisoners was the inmates' priority. They also sought effective rehabilitation for all prisoners and information about how money is allocated to prisons.

Bratz did not address the phone calls during the news conference or give details about negotiations, which he said were ongoing. He did not take questions.

'We are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of everyone involved and using all of our available resources,' he said.

The inmates released one hostage around 2:40pm yesterday. Bratz said the person, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Bratz did not say how much of the prison, which houses about 2,500 inmates, was involved in the incident.

But Bruce Rogers, counsel for the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, told The Associated Press Building C was under the inmates' control.

Rogers described the hostages as four guards and one counselor. He said he'd been briefed on the situation by the union's president, who was talking to officials at the scene.

The officer who was released 'had been beaten and bruised and banged up,' said Rogers.

Video from above the prison Wednesday afternoon showed uniformed officers gathered in two groups along fences near an entrance to the prison.

Later, video showed several people surrounding a stretcher and running as they pushed it across the compound. People could be seen standing near a set of doors with an empty stretcher and wheelchair.

Blood Bank Delmarva tweeted about 12pm saying they were in need of O blood type and platelet donations to go to Smyrna.

Video from above the prison shows uniformed officers gathered in two groups along fences near an entrance to the prison

The prison was placed into lockdown as police swarmed the facility early Wednesday morning

Dozens of emergency response teams and Delaware State Police swarmed the prison as helicopters circled above the buildings when the hostage situation was first reported.

The Department of Correction initially only said that an emergency situation was reported at the Smyrna prison late Wednesday morning.

The facility and all other prisons in the state were placed on lockdown, which is protocol if an emergency happens at one of the facilities.

Video shot by CBS from above the prison shows uniformed officers gathered in two groups along fences near an entrance to the prison.

According to the department's website, the prison is Delaware's largest correctional facility for men, housing about 2,500 inmates.

It houses minimum, medium, and maximum security inmates, and also houses Kent County detainees awaiting trial. It is also the site of the state's death row and where executions were carried out. The prison opened in 1971.

The last hostage situation at the prison occurred in 2004 when inmate Scott Miller raped a counselor and took her hostage for nearly seven hours.

A department sharpshooter later shot and killed the 45-year-old ending the standoff.

Dover attorney Stephen Hampton, who has represented state inmates in civil rights cases, said complaints have increased in the past year from inmates systemwide about substandard medical care and poor record-keeping.

Hampton also said that pretrial inmates at Vaughn and other facilities are locked up for much of the day, without access to gyms or libraries, because rules prohibit mixing pretrial and sentenced inmates.

He said prisoners awaiting trial sometimes make deals to get out of their cells. He added: 'There gets to be a tremendous pressure on these inmates.'