By C1 Staff
A nurse making routine rounds inside the Mahoning County Jail was attacked by an inmate.
Joyce O’Hara was delivering medications inside the facility when Deron Williams assaulted her. An officer accompanying O’Hara during the routine procedure immediately responded, pushing the inmate away from O’Hara while other officers responded to the incident.
Sheriff Jerry Greene said he was happy with the two minute response time it took the other officers to get to the incident.
Check out the video below and regroup with us for some discussion questions.
This video must be used in training in roll calls and at academies. It is a clear illustration of two things:
- Attacks on all staff inside a correctional facility can happen very, very quickly.
- There is a need for all staff to be aware of their surroundings. Correctional facilities are never 100 percent safe.
Other points to consider: Response from the correctional officer in the unit and responding officers was very good. It is not clear if the nurse has an alarm device or panic button; but this is something to consider for certain staff that are not COs as they move inside the housing units.
Also-this inmate should be charged to the full extent of both the law-criminally-and under the disciplinary code of the jail. No deals-the video says it all.
This behavior is good justification for segregation for the remainder of this inmate’s time in the jail. This can be used to answer critics of corrections’ segregation policy. Some inmates are dangerous, will attack without warning and should be segregated. He can be checked on regularly by staff, but should be under two officer escort and hand and leg restraints per an administrative hearing.
Finally: in using this for staff discussion and training the point has to be made:
We must all watch out for each other.