A Waupun prison inmate who took an employee hostage this morning has surrendered – and he released the woman un-harmed. The 38-year-old male prisoner, identified as Stuart Ellanson, ended his stand-off a few minutes after noon. Ellanson is serving time for a 1992 murder conviction in Douglas County.
The employee, a dental technician at the prison identified only as Tracy, was held for over five hours in the facility's Health-and-Segregation unit. The episode ended after hostage negotiators talked with the man. Ellanson had listed cigarettes as one of his major demands.
An investigation is underway to see how the prisoner took the woman hostage, and to see how such a thing can be prevented in the future. Officials say Ellanson apparently used some manufactured weapons during the stand off, which he had put together at the prison.
Officials say the prison will continue to be locked down as a precaution.