OSSINING – Correction officers were injured at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining recently when they were attacked by inmates during two separate incidents at the maximum security prison.
The union representing corrections officers, New York State Correctional officers Police Benevolent Association said in an August 29 incident, an inmate was being escorted back to his cell when he charged at the officer and a struggle ensured. The inmate in the next cell grabbed the officer’s shirt and pulled him to the cell bars.
The officer felt the back of his head being cut by an unknown object. He broke free, fell to the floor while still struggling with the inmate who initially attacked him.
Two officers who responded got the inmate off the officer and into mechanical constraints.
The inmate was transferred to the facility clinic where he continued to threaten and struggle with staff. He was transferred to Downstate Correctional Facility after the incident.
The 26-year-old inmate is serving a 20-year sentence for armed assault and criminal possession of a weapon in Schenectady in 2011.
The inmate who pulled the officer over was transferred to Green Haven Correctional Facility. He is 25-years-old and serving 10 years after being convicted of manslaughter in Brooklyn in 2015.
The officer cut in the head was admitted to the hospital overnight and was treated for a laceration to the back of his head and bruising to his lower back. As of September 6, he had not returned to work.
Two makeshift cutting weapons were recovered near the attack. The investigation is continuing.
The following day at about 9 a.m., another inmate attacked an officer and attempted to cut him with a razor. The inmate, armed with a broom handle, approached the officer in the cell block. The officer got the broom handle out of the inmate’s hands, but the inmate punched the officer several times in the face.
With the assistance of a second officer, the inmate was put into a body hold, but he spit put a razor into his hand and tried to cut the officer in the race.
The two officers were able to restrain the inmate.
The officers were treated at the prison for minor injuries. Both remained on duty.
Two cutting weapons were recovered from the inmates’ cells.
“The seriousness of both these assaults cannot be understated,” said Clarence Fisher, the regional vice president of NYSCOPBA. “Simply put, these are vicious, brazen attacks by violent felons who show no regard for staff or for discipline.”
Fisher urged the Westchester District Attorney’s Office to prosecute both cases.
