COXSACKIE – A corrections officer at Coxsackie Correctional Facility sustained a serious head injury when attacked by an inmate on Monday, June 29.
The New York State Corrections Officers PBA, which represents officers, provided the account of the attack.
The assault occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. as the officer was escorting the inmate to the showers and took the mechanic restraints off his wrists. The inmate immediately spun around, punched the officer in the face, tackled him to the shower floor and landed on top of him. The officer struck the back of his head hard on the floor.
The officer was able to get free and get up off the floor. The inmate attempted to punch the officer again but missed. The officer was able to defend himself and strike the inmate in the chest at which time the inmate turned and ran out of the shower area and back to his cell where he closed his cell gate.
Additional staff arrived on the scene and proceeded to remove the inmate from his cell.
The officer who was attacked was treated at the prison clinic and transported to Albany Medical Center where he was diagnosed with a fractured skull and sternum.
The 22-year-old inmate was placed in a special housing unit.
He is serving a three-year sentence after being convicted in Monroe County in 2019 for attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He has past disciplinary history of attacking staff at the prison.
State Police were notified of the attack.
“This absolutely horrific attack on one of my members needs to be a wakeup call to DOCCS and Governor Cuomo as advocates continue to lobby for additional reform to special housing units,” said Michael Mazzella, NYSCOPBA Mid-Hudson regional vice president. “The day before the attack, a fellow NYSCOPBA member sent a memo to supervisors at Coxsackie expressing concerns about staffing levels not being adequate to run the inmate showers safely. The following day his concerns came to fruition in this vicious attack.”
Mazzella said there needs to be measures to restrict violent inmates through special housing units. “Any additional reforms will further put officers in jeopardy,” he said.
