By Ryan Mancini
masslive.com
BOSTON — The prosecution of three Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center inmates charged in connection with a September 2024 attack comes as the corrections officers’ union’s president calls for stricter practices to prevent another attack.
“We as a union, as a community and as a state must work to ensure the safety and well-being of all our corrections officers now and in the future,” Massachusetts Correctional Officers Federated Union president Dennis Martin said during a press conference outside the Worcester County Courthouse on Thursday. “And today is a step in the right direction towards achieving that goal.”
Martin also thanked Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.‘s office for prosecuting the case, and for “recognizing and protecting our silent heroes.”
Martin and around 60 corrections officers appeared in Superior Court, “standing side-by-side in solidarity” as Martin said, for the arraignments of the three inmates charged in connection with the attack. This attack left five corrections officers hurt, including Stephen Adams, who was stabbed 12 times in the attack.
Jose Crespo was charged with mayhem, assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. Heriberto Rivera-Negron was charged with assault and battery on a correctional facility employee, and strangulation and suffocation. Jeffrey Tapia was charged with mayhem, assault to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.
All three pleaded not guilty.
Judge Karin Bell ordered the three men to be held without bail. Two of the men, Crespo and Tapia, are already serving life sentences.
Crespo is expected to appear for a pre-trial hearing on March 25, Rivera-Negron for a dangerousness hearing on Feb. 5 and Tapia’s dangerousness hearing was scheduled for Feb. 3 .
On Sept. 18, 2024, at around 6:20 p.m., two officers were stabbed at the maximum security prison, while three others were injured, the prosecutor said.
Corrections officer Stephen Adams brought Crespo down to the ground as other officers helped to detain Crespo, the prosecutor said. But Tapia intervened and attacked the other officers, giving Crespo a chance to continue stabbing Adams.
As the attack happened, Rivera-Negron was at the facility’s recreational deck and “saw an opportunity he just could not resist,” punching and kicking the corrections officers, including Adams, the prosecutor said.
All five corrections officers were hospitalized, with two officers treated for stab wounds. Adams was stabbed 12 times in the back and suffered a punctured lung, according to the MCOFU. Adams was released from the hospital days later.
Adams and one of the other officers appeared in the courtroom on Thursday, Martin confirmed. Neither spoke. All of the officers hurt in the attack were on a long road to physical and mental recovery, Martin said. He added that it was unclear if they will all return to work.
“These officers put themselves in harm’s way each and every day inside these dangerous prison walls,” Martin emphasized.
He then called for new reforms for the Massachusetts prison system that would prevent attacks like this from happening again. For example, Martin said there must be more protections for officers, more lockdowns and more comprehensive searches of inmates.
“Well, we’re asking them to realize the severity of these dangerous individuals,” Martin said. “Let’s just remember something: that these individuals [who] are incarcerated are committing crimes inside the prison. They were already charged by a jury of their peers and they’re still committing these heinous acts inside the prison walls. That is uncalled for. We have to stop that.”
After the press conference ended, officers moved away from the courthouse closer to Main Street . A cluster of officers embraced one man clad in a jacket and khaki pants, his left arm in a sling.
The man was Adams.
He smiled as officers approached, hugging him or shaking his free hand. The group then continued to walk away, rubbing their elbows in the cold weather.
Crespo is expected to appear for a pre-trial hearing on March 25 , Rivera-Negron for a dangerousness hearing on Feb. 5 and Tapia’s dangerousness hearing was scheduled for Feb. 3 .
The union released a video of the attack on the corrections officers, which “shocks the conscience,” the union said in a previous statement.
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