By Sarah Roebuck
Corrections1
ROME, N.Y. — A corrections officer was slashed by an inmate during a counseling session, CNY Central reports.
It happened on June 18 when two corrections officers at Mohawk Correctional Facility were assigned to counsel the inmate in the vocational building. The officers said the inmate became argumentative and when he was ordered to submit to a pat frisk, he refused, according to the report.
Officers reported that the inmate retrieved a makeshift weapon from his pocket and began slashing at them. Despite being ordered to drop the weapon, the inmate refused, according to the report. OC spray was deployed but had no effect. The inmate persisted in his attack, injuring one officer on the forehead. Eventually, the officers managed to subdue the inmate using a body hold, disarmed him and handcuffed him. The inmate was subsequently escorted out of the building.
The officer who was injured received a two-inch laceration to his scalp. The other officer involved sustained knee, back, chest and leg injuries in the attack, according to the report. Both officers were transported to a hospital for treatment.
Following the attack, the inmate was transferred to Auburn Correctional Facility. The inmate used a toothbrush with a sharpened piece of metal taped to one end as a weapon in the attack, according to the report. The makeshift weapon was seized as evidence.
On the same day as the attack, another corrections officer was punched in the jaw after an inmate charged at her. The corrections officer was taken to a hospital for swelling to her jaw, blurred vision and a headache.
The inmate in that attack was transferred to Five Points Correctional Facility, according to the report.
Recently, corrections officers reported that searches for contraband led to four inmate attacks and the recovery of five makeshift weapons. Additionally, staff found several bundles of paper soaked in synthetic marijuana (K2) during searches. A female visitor was arrested after a K-9 alert, handing over three bundles of K2, 95 pills and 8.5 grams of a substance testing positive for Oxycodone.
“Despite the best efforts of staff, drugs and weapons still end up in the hands of inmates and that not only makes the jobs of officers more difficult but certainly more dangerous,” Central Region Vice President Bryan Hluska said in a statement. “We have seen how violent inmates become when they are high on K2, and when they are armed with weapons, it can result in the situation that occurred last Tuesday with the officer getting slashed in the forehead. Fortunately for him, the laceration was small. That might not be the case in the future. The inmate violence is exploding each day and now with up to five more prisons to be closed by the State, it is only going to make matters worse as inmates are crowded into the remaining prisons. The safety and wellbeing of our members certainly isn’t a priority of our elected officials as their progressive policies have only made matters worse!”
In the video below, Gordon Graham discusses how to combat contraband in correctional facilities.