Turkish inmates free hostages after 3-day standoff

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) -- Inmates at a Turkish prison have released 21 guards they held hostage during a three-day standoff after winning a promise they would not be mistreated, a police official said on Thursday.

Unrest is common in Turkey's dilapidated jails, where political and mafia prisoners recruit and organise gangs in dormitory-style blocks housing up to 100 people.

The prisoners overpowered the wardens and set fire to prison buildings on Monday to prevent the transfer of four gang leaders to another prison.

Paramilitary police entered the jail in the Mediterranean city of Adana on Wednesday and negotiated the release of the hostages, who were let go separately throughout the night.

No one was injured in the operation, the official said.

Dozens of inmates have died after paramilitary police have stormed jails to restore order in previous prison uprisings.

"We promised the convicts would not be mistreated," state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Adana's chief prosecutor Cemal Sahir Gurcay as saying.

"The state will hand out punishments within the parameters of the law. There's no point to crude force," Gurcay said.

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