Guard at Phoenix-area prison plagued by safety issues stabbed by inmate
May 8, 2019, 12:55 PM | Updated: 1:19 pm
(AP Photo/Judi Bottoni, File)
(AP Photo/Judi Bottoni, File)
PHOENIX — A prison guard who was working at a facility in metro Phoenix that has broken locks on some of its cells was stabbed in the chest Wednesday by an inmate.
The correctional officer at Lewis Prison in Buckeye was stabbed around 10:30 a.m., Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman Andrew Wilder said in an email.
The incident is the first known attack on a worker since ABC15 reported in April that some inmates at the prison committed violent assaults after escaping from cells without proper locking mechanisms.
But Wilder said the incident was “not related to the functionality of doors or locking mechanisms at the prison.”
Wilder said the incident happened as the unidentified inmate was being escorted out of his housing pod to the medical building after reporting feelings of dizziness.
The worker, who was not identified, was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was alert and conscious and his injury appeared to be non-life threatening.
The weapon used appeared to be fashioned from a portable immersion heater coil.
The investigation is ongoing. The inmate is expected to face criminal charges related to the incident.
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ABC15 reporter Dave Biscobing reported that tensions had been high inside the facility after Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan ordered some cells to be padlocked, despite it being a violation of fire codes.
The padlocks were a last-ditch effort to keep inmates from leaving their cells and roaming the facility, after the department installed external locking pins on the doors that were broken, stolen or removed by inmates.
Gov. Doug Ducey has authorized two investigations into security and safety issues at the prison.
Officials began to transfer close-custody inmates at the prison to other facilities Monday. The number of inmates that would be moved and where they would be moved to was not immediately known.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood and Ali Vetnar contributed to this report.
