Inmate stabs 2 officers at prison in Shirley

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

The officer whose neck was slashed “was dragged to safety by the other officer who was already stabbed,’’ Kenneway said. “It was a pretty heroic action.’’ The officers were released from the hospital yesterday, he said.

Two other correctional officers suffered minor injuries when the inmate allegedly assaulted them as they struggled to remove him from the housing unit, prison officials said.

Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correction, declined to offer details but confirmed that four correctional officers were injured during a confrontation with an inmate. She said their injuries were not life-threatening.

Citing privacy laws, she would not comment on whether the inmate became enraged after being told he would be forced to double-bunk. The names of the officers and the inmate were not released yesterday.

Kenneway and a lawyer who heads an agency that provides legal representation to inmates said the incident was 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.

The prison is “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.’’

The union plans to seek a court order to stop double bunking at the facility, Kenneway said.

Harold W. Clarke, commissioner of the Department of Correction, said during a telephone interview last night that the stabbings of the officers “may be considered an anomaly’’ and that double bunking has not prompted violence at Souza-Baranowski.

“I can tell you without a doubt that facility is under control,’’ Clarke said. “It’s not running amok, and the superintendent and his staff are in charge.’’

Clarke also disputed Kenneway’s description of escalating assaults and weapon confiscation.

According to Kenneway, there have been 30 to 40 assaults on correctional officers at the Souza-Baranowski prison since double bunking began 10 months ago, and officers confiscated 75 weapons from inmates in the first 18 days of October. He said there has also been a steep rise in alcohol consumption by inmates.

The prison staff has been involved in multiple standoffs with inmates, who have refused to return to their cells, requiring officers to use force, according to Kenneway.

On Oct. 8, an inmate was stabbed 32 times, according to his lawyer. And in May, the prison’s superintendent, Thomas Dickhaut, was struck above the eye by an inmate during a routine meeting with prisoners.

While Clarke challenged Kenneway’s contention that 75 weapons were seized in October, he said statistics on weapons confiscated and assaults on officers and inmates were not readily available. He said he would have them compiled and make them public.

“The superintendent said the climate at his institution is improving steadily and they are feeling very good about operations,’’ Clarke said.

He acknowledged that the number of assaults has risen at Souza-Baranowski in the past year, but attributed it to the fact that its population has increased and that it now houses the system’s most serious offenders, who were transferred there from the Cedar Junction prison in Walpole when that prison was changed to a medium security facility.

“These very same inmates were assaulting officers or attempting to assault officers at Cedar Junction, and they are now at Souza-Baranowski,’’ said Clarke, adding that he expected that statistics, if available, would show that assaults have dropped at Walpole.

“In essence we have shifted the problem, but shifted it to a facility that’s better designed to deal with it,’’ said Clarke, calling Souza-Baranowski a “state-of-the-art facility.’’

Clarke said double-bunking of inmates is done in the federal prison system and in many other states. “The alternative to double-bunking would be to build another institution or let inmates go,’’ he said. “I don’t think we need to build another facility or let inmates go.’’

The Souza-Baranowski prison was designed to hold 1,024 inmates and now houses 1,271, including 190 who are double bunked, according to Wiffin.

Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, said an inmate who is serving an 18-month prison term for assault was stabbed 32 times on Oct. 8 in what appeared to be a gang-related feud over a pair of sneakers.

“The facility is full of violence,’’ said Walker, adding that the stabbing victim is terrified because he is back at Souza-Baranowski after being released from the hospital. “There are a number of people who are fearful they are going to be hurt while double bunked or walking down a hallway.’’

Walker said the consumption of home-brewed alcohol by inmates is also rising at Souza-Baranowski, with intoxication fueling more violence. Kenneway said that inmates make alcohol from sugar-based products and that officials have taken away fruit in an attempt to stop them.

“We are very concerned about the safety of the officers and our clients,’’ Walker said.

The housing unit where the officers were attacked Wednesday holds 84 inmates and has been placed on lockdown, meaning that inmates cannot leave their cells, Wiffin said.

Kenneway said officials should have ordered a prisonwide lockdown to send a message that violence against officers and staff will not be tolerated.