One correction officer was stabbed a dozen times by a 6-inch piece of metal sharpened to a point with a cloth wrapped handle affixed, according to court documents.
Three inmates accused of assaulting multiple correction officers at Massachusetts’s only maximum-security prison are now facing charges, the state Department of Correction announced.
The three men, who are incarcerated at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, were charged last Friday. Five correction officers were hospitalized after the incident on Wednesday, Sept. 18, a spokesperson for the department said.
Jose Crespo, 39, Heriberto Rivera-Negron, 36, and Jeffrey Tapia, 30, are each charged with mayhem, armed assault to murder, and assault to murder. Each man will appear in court later in October.
“Attacks against our officers will not be tolerated and the serious charges filed against the three individuals demonstrates that the Massachusetts Department of Correction will take action,” the DOC’s Interim Commissioner Shawn Jenkins said in a statement. “This type of violence is unacceptable and now those involved will be held accountable in the court of law.”