COURTLAND, Va. — No one was seriously hurt after a fire broke out at the Southampton County Jail over the weekend.
The Courtland Volunteer Fire Department was called to the fire around 8:30 p.m. Sunday for the fire.
According to the sheriff's office, deputies had already responded to the jail earlier in the night after some inmates damaged the water lines in the cell block. They say the inmates then destroyed a camera and broke all of the lights in the cell block as deputies worked on the water issue.
It was around that time deputies began to smell smoke. They went back to the same cell block and found an active fire.
Deputies tried to get the fire out with extinguishers, but it wasn't until the fire department arrived that the fire was fully put out.
Three of the inmates from that cell block, along with a deputy, were taken to Southampton Memorial Hospital for difficulty breathing. All were released later that night.
The sheriff's office said the jail nurse medically screened and cleared the inmates who were not hospitalized.
Several inmates have been transported to other facilities while cleanup and repairs take place in the cell block where the fire began. All other inmates remain at the jail.
Investigators are still looking into how the fire was started, but detectives believe it was purposely started in the cell block using batters, books, playing cards, and some time of fabric.
Charges are pending at this time.