Guard injured in prison assault
WAYNESBURG – A corrections officer at SCI-Greene state prison sustained minor injuries Thursday morning when he was assaulted by an inmate being escorted from the individual exercise areas.
The corrections officer, whose name was not released, was treated for “very minor cuts” and since returned to work, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said.
Several corrections officers were taking restricted housing unit inmates from individual exercise areas when one of the inmates struck an escorting officer in the arm with a piece of wood he had broken off a fence that separates inmates from each other in the exercise area, McNaughton said.
No other inmates or officers were involved, she said.
The restricted housing unit at the prison normally holds inmates who are separated from the general population for administrative or disciplinary reasons.
McNaughton said the incident will be reported to state police, who will then determine if charges are warranted.
The assault was the fourth reported at the prison in the past four months.
An inmate stabbed an officer almost a dozen times Nov. 19, causing a gash to the head that required treatment at WHS-Greene hospital. The inmate was not charged, police said, because he is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.
An officer trainee was slashed on the arm with a razor blade March 24, causing a superficial wound, police said. Angel Muniz, 37, who is serving 19½ to 39 years for third-degree murder in Philadelphia in 1998, was charged with aggravated assault and simple assault.
Another officer was injured during a fight between two inmates April 20.
A prison official said then that the injury required “outside medical assistance,” but was not life threatening.
No further information was provided.