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NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) - A guard at a southwest Mississippi prison died Sunday and several other employees were injured during what the facility's private operator is calling "an inmate disturbance" that continued into the evening.

Emily Ham, a spokeswoman for the Adams County Sheriff's Office, confirmed Sunday evening that the guard died while being transported to a hospital. She said Corrections Corp. of America, the prison's private operator, was working Sunday night with law-enforcement authorities to bring the disturbance under control.

CCA said in a news release that the disturbance began at around 2:40 p.m. CDT. The news release said five employees were transported to a local hospital for treatment of injuries and one was taken offsite. It said "the disturbance is contained within the secure perimeter of the facility, with no threat to public safety."

State and local law-enforcement officers are providing outside perimeter security, the news release said.

The company said the cause of disturbance is pending investigation. The 2,567-bed prison houses federal inmates.

CCA spokesman Steve Owen confirmed in an email "there has been one employee death" but he said he could not provide more details immediately.

"Efforts by facility staff and law enforcement officials to quell the incident are ongoing," Owens said in an email late Sunday to The Associated Press.

Ham said no inmates had escaped the facility.