A female corrections officer held hostage in a prison guard tower for two weeks seems to be holding up well even as her inmate captors displayed a weapon for the first time, officials said Sunday.
Officials haven't made public the inmate's demands, but Cam Hunter, a Corrections Department spokeswoman, acknowledged that it's reasonable to assume the pair are asking for more than just necessities. She would not elaborate.
Negotiators last saw the captive guard Tuesday, but they heard her voice Saturday during a telephone call monitored by health professionals.
"They continue to feel that she is handling this well, that she is alert, they know she is mobile," Hunter said Sunday.
On Saturday, one of the two inmates walked on the roof of the tower carrying what appeared to be a shotgun or rifle, the first time in the standoff at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis that either inmate displayed a weapon.
The inmate swung the weapon, holding it by the barrel rather than the stock, and never aimed it. Prison officials called it a non-threatening display.
The standoff at the 4,400-inmate prison in Buckeye, west of Phoenix, began Jan. 18. A second guard who was taken hostage in the tower, a man, was released Jan. 24.