LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The cells holding 26 death-row inmates sprang open for three minutes after a guard pressed the wrong button, a month after a prisoner was beaten to death during a similar mishap.

The inmates stayed in their cells and no one was injured during Wednesday's mishap, said Dina Tyler, a spokeswoman for the Varner Supermax Unit. The guard, whose name was not released, was fired the same day.

"It could have been a bad situation but fortunately it wasn't," Tyler said.

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