SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Six guards and a former guard at a Pennsylvania jail have been arrested on charges they sexually abused inmates.

State police arrested two of the guards at Lackawanna County Prison on Wednesday afternoon. The other arrests took place away from the Scranton lockup. One of the defendants is a former town councilman.

The (Scranton) Times-Tribune reports the arrests came six months after agents from the state attorney general's office and state police raided the jail and other county facilities as part of a grand jury investigation into sexual abuse of inmates. The investigation began in the wake of a federal lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was sexually abused by six guards.

All seven defendants are free on bail. They have a preliminary hearing on Feb. 23.