The West Virginia Penitentiary escape involving two inmates Wednesday afternoon has not been the first time that unrest had occurred in the past three years.

One of the most violent years in the prison's history was 1986, with six prisoners being killed and twice as many injured in the 12-month period.

The bloody year began with a riot on New Year's Day, in which inmates Kent Slie, Richard Howard Dean and Jeff Atkinson were killed and several guards were taken hostage.

During the 42-hour riot, the captain's booth was overrun and 16 guards were taken hostage and stripped of their keys. After that, the South Hall fell with no resistance and offices were rummaged.

The riot was the first major problem at the prison since 1979, when 15 inmates escaped the facility in a plot allegedly masterminded by twice-convicted cop-killer Ronald Williams. In the escape, an off-duty state trooper was murdered, and Williams was not apprehended until two years later after a shoot-out with FBI agents in New York City.

On June 27, 1986, , prison guards shot four inmates after refusing to obey orders. State Department of Corrections Commissioner A. V. Dodrill was at the prison at the time and said the inmates were told to shut their doors and the four did not.

After they refused, guards in riot gear approached North Hall and the prisoners showed homemade weapons. A warning shot was fired but one of the prisoners threw a bottle and the guards returned shots.

On Thanksgiving Eve 1986, two more inmates were killed. Those murdered were alleged Avengers motorcycle gang leader Danny Lehman and inmate Michael McMillion.

The two were stabbed to death on one of the prison's tiers as they returned to their cells from a recreation period. Another inmate, Danny Worley, was also attacked at the time but recovered from his injuries.

William Yakubik was the next fatality in 1987. Inmate Mark Allen Parker was convicted of beating Yakubik to death with a weight bar during a recreation period.

Then on April 3 of this year, three convicted murderers - Tommie Mollohan, Bobby Stacy and David Williams - escaped from the prison. The escape was very detailed as the prisoners broke into the basement of the former administration building, took a pair of bolt cutters from a locked storage room, broke into the administration building and escaped through a window.

Stacy was captured 11 days later in Columbus; Williams was apprehended April 29 in McDowell County and Mollohan was caught May 9 in the Cameron area.

"We realize how vulnerable we are and why it is necessary to go by the book and enforce the regulations," said William Whyte, executive assistant for the state Department of Corrections, in an earlier interview.