WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – Guards at a Kansas prison housing some of the most dangerous criminals say there were two previously unreported disturbances during which inmates took control of the yard for hours before a third uprising that was disclosed last month.

Two corrections officers and a person with access to emergency logs, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals from their employer, say low staffing, overcrowding and 16-hour shifts created dangerous conditions at the El Dorado Correctional Facility.

They say inmates took over the yard for hours during a disturbance the week of May 8 and on June 24. Neither incident has been disclosed by the Kansas Department of Corrections. A third incident on June 29 was revealed when inmates got a cellphone and called relatives.

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