Three correctional officers were attacked by an inmate on Thursday, March 5th, at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, Illinois.
At approximately 10:30 a.m., an inmate at the Menard Correctional Center was being transferred to a cell in the East house (odds), pictured below. He had been in segregation. Inmates being transferred to a different cell goes smoothly most of the time at Menard. It's a typical mundane task for inmates and officers. Quite a bit of "behind the scenes" work goes into properly housing inmates. If there is a cellmate in the equation, upper staff looks at everything, including the inmates' preferences and personalities to ensure they will "cohabitate in a friendly, and most importantly, a safe manner."
Correctional officers have no say concerning cell transfers. It is simply their job to help move inmates into their new cell.
Upon arrival to the cell, the inmate said he did not want to move into the cell. This requires a Sergeant to come and help keep the situation de-escalated. The inmate was told that refusing to move to the cell is considered "refusing housing" and he would have to go back to segregation. The inmate stated to the officers that he was going to "fight them". He immediately punched two officers in the face as they tried to utilize pepper spray. The spray was ineffective. He continued to punch the officers which resulted in one officer requiring surgery for a severely broken jaw. The officer with the broken jaw also suffered a concussion, but this didn't stop him from trying to help the other officers being assaulted. Another officer suffered from a substantial facial injury.
A call for help went out and luckily other correctional officers came on the scene and held the inmate down while assessing the injuries to the correctional officers. The inmate did not suffer any serious injuries.
I spoke to one correctional officer who said, "This rarely happens. We don't want to fight these guys. You don't really have time to react because you don't really think they are going to swing on anyone. We'd rather utilize pepper spray than having to actually physically hurt them. In this case the guy was merely restrained after injuring these officers. This was ridiculous. We don't control which cell they go to."
I spoke to another correctional officer who shared, "Over 200 prisoners could see the officers getting hurt and they cheered, clapped and whistled. It feels like a slap in the face because we try to have a good relationship with them. If they treat us well, we treat them with the exact same respect. So many guys in there are just there to do their time and we have good relationships with them. One of the officers was bleeding profusely, blood everywhere, it was so hard to hear the prisoners cheering about it. There was nothing to cheer about. The officer is a really good guy and everyone likes him so I was shocked they were cheering. He gets along with literally everyone, just a super nice guy. He did not deserve this."
After five correctional officers were able to subdue the inmate, the officers were treated for their injuries with the officer with the broken jaw having to be taken to a secondary hospital that was able to take care of his serious injury. A third officer was struck during the fight from the inmate however he did not need medical attention immediately afterwards.
Due to the incident, the inmate has been moved to another facility which is what always happens after a serious attack.
One officer on the scene thought that a weapon was used due to the amount of blood from the officer's broken jaw and mouth injuries. I'm thankful no weapons were used.
Correctional officers and even their union representatives reach out to me frequently because they believe CO safety is just as important as the inmates. I agree that both are equally important and the public should know when correctional officers are severely injured after an attack.
Photo credit- Southern Illinoisian
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