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Inmate slashes throat of correction officer

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 5, 2009 05:43 PM

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Behind the fences and walls of the Souza-Baranowski Correction Center, a union official says, things are "out of control."

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff

A state prison inmate allegedly slashed the throat of one correctional officer and stabbed another in the cheek with a homemade weapon Wednesday night at the Souza-Baranowksi Correction Center in Shirley after being told he would be forced to double-bunk with another inmate, according to a union official.

"The inmate is alleging that he was told he would get a single cell when he was released from the segregation unit. ... When he was told he wasn't on the list...he pulled out a shank and just started stabbing the officers,'' said Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union.

The officer whose throat was slashed "was dragged to safety by the other officer who was already stabbed; it was a pretty heroic action,'' said Kenneway, adding that the officers were both released from the hospital early this morning after treatment for their wounds and were lucky to be alive. Two other correctional officers suffered minor injuries when the inmate allegedly assaulted them as they removed him from the housing unit, according to officials.

Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correction, confirmed that four correctional officers were injured during a confrontation with an inmate and called their injuries "non-life-threatening.''

Citing privacy laws, she would not comment on whether the inmate became enraged after being told he would be forced to share a cell with another inmate.

Kenneway and a lawyer who heads an agency that provides legal representation to inmates said the incident was just the latest in a string of violent episodes at the Souza-Baranowski facility since the Patrick administration made it the state's only maximum-security prison and then, in January, started double-bunking some inmates.

Calling the prison "out of control,'' Kenneway said, "This policy of double-bunking has caused chaos and this administration is incapable of admitting it's a bad plan."

Kenneway said there have been 30 to 40 assaults on correctional officers at the Souza-Baranowski prison since double-bunking began 10 months ago, and that in the first 18 days of October, officers confiscated 75 weapons from inmates.

The union plans to file a complaint in court to seek an order that would stop double-bunking at the facility, Kenneway said.

"It's dangerous. It's going to lead to the death of an officer or an inmate or both,'' Kenneway said.

On Oct. 8, an inmate was stabbed 32 times, said Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, who represents the inmate.

"This facility is full of violence,'' Walker said. "There are a number of people who are fearful they are going to be hurt while double-bunked or walking down a hallway.''

Wiffin said statistics were not readily available on the number of assaults on officers or inmates at the Souza-Baranowski facility or the number of weapons confiscated there this year. She told the Globe to file a public records request for statistics.

Wiffin defended the double-bunking plan, calling it "industry standard'' in prisons nationwide.

"Prisons are dangerous places, there are dangerous inmates in them," Wiffin said. She said that a "mission change," which includes double-bunking at Souza-Baranowski, "has and will continue to result in a decrease in violence department-wide."

The housing unit where the alleged assault occurred was placed in lockdown Wednesday, Wiffin said. The unit houses 84 inmates, she said.

Kenneway blasted the department, saying officials should have ordered a prison-wide lockdown to send a message that violence against officers and staff will not be tolerated.