A rare story about a prison assualt – as reported on Sacramento’s KXTV News 10’s website yesterday:
Guard Stabbed in New Folsom Prison Attack
FOLSOM, CA – A correctional officer employed at California State Prison-Sacramento (new Folsom Prison) is recovering after being slashed in the neck Sunday night by an inmate, according to a prison spokeswoman.
The 33-year-old officer was cut on his neck, jaw and ear and required 68 stitches, said Rhonda Carter. He was taken by ambulance for treatment at an area hospital and released later Sunday night.
Carter said Jonathan McClaurin, 39, is accused of using a homemade weapon in the attack. McClaurin, behind bars since 1997, is serving 135 years to life for three counts of first-degree robbery, vehicle theft and disregard for safety.
Carter said the prison is investigating the stabbing, which took place in a maximum security unit at about 7 p.m. Sunday, as attempted murder.
The guard has been employed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for 3 1/2 years, Carter said.
——
Unfortunately, assaults like this happen all the time in California’s prisons. It always amazes me how little press they get – and frankly, that needs to change.
I was five months into my first term in the Assembly when I got an up close and personal look how dangerous it is to be a correctional officer in California. At Calipatria State Prison three members of the East Coast Crips wanting to "make their bones" charged into the educational area right off of the yard with the express intention to kill a correctional officer. The hit was foiled by an alert female officer who challenged the inmates for being in the wrong place – stopping them just long enough for a couple other officers to get involved. The female officer was stabbed in the back, another officer had his knee blown out – in fact, every officer involved ended up retiring with a disability. I entered the picture after-the-fact and got the administration to install a fence that now surrounds the yard so access is restricted into the education and administration areas.
Welcome to the work environment of our correctional officers. California prisons house some of the most dangerous predators in the country.
Yet, you never hear about the pressures or the dangers correctional officers face on daily basis. All the liberal media reports is that the officers are too highly paid and that somehow letting career felons out of prisons will magically make California safer (even writing that sentence made me dizzy with its liberal lunacy that underpins it).
It’s time the facts about this profession get out. I’ve been to several prisons and seen firsthand what goes on inside. I’ve spoken to the wardens, the correctional officers and even some of the most heinous killers and criminals of our time (which, by the way, will tell you they are in prison for drugs if you ask them).
I’m going to use this space to start giving you some details about what is really going on inside the prisons and with the men and women that protect us all from these folks.
Full disclosure: The Battin Group does do political work for the CCPOA (California Correctional Peace Officers Association). More disclosure: I’m writing this blog post without their permission and haven’t been asked to do it. In fact, I know they will be uncomfortable with it. They will feel uneasy with me pointing out the risks their members face (but I’m writing it anyway).
As you and I celebrate Christmas and the New Year spending time with our family and friends – the family of this officer will thank God the inmate that tried to slit his throat and murder him missed and all he got was 68 stitches across his neck, jaw and ear.
I don’t know about you, but on the worst day I ever had on any job I’ve ever held, being killed, maimed or assaulted wasn’t something that could remotely happen. In California prisons, correctional officers are assaulted in some fashion every week.
They do indeed walk the toughest beat in the state.