SALEM, Mass. -- Inmates responsible for a vicious attack at a Massachusetts prison faced a judge on Thursday.
The incident happened at the Essex County Correctional Facility.
Police said seven inmates were bathing inside locked shower cells, when several men crawled underneath the stall doors.
The suspects then attacked the corrections officers, according to authorities.
Three officers were hurt.
The inmates now face additional assault and battery charges.
Do you think they should rethink the security of the showers?
Posted by: honor12900
Melee at Middleton Jail injures five guards Julie Manganis MIDDLETON — Five guards at Middleton Jail were injured early yesterday after a group of inmates, let out of their cells to take showers, attacked the guards, using as weapons the handcuffs and shackles that had just been removed from them, according to court testimony.
Seven men, including one who is awaiting trial on murder charges, were charged in the attacks. All seven are considered high-risk inmates and were confined to a high-security segregation unit.
All seven were ordered held on bails ranging from $75,000 to $250,000 cash during their arraignments yesterday afternoon in Salem District Court, where they were brought in under heavy security, arraigned in a courtroom that had been cleared of most spectators, and then immediately moved back out of the building and into a pair of vans surrounded by unmarked police cars.
All are charged with assault and battery on corrections officers and with dangerous weapons that included handcuffs, shackles, body chains and a chair, as well as brooms and a plunger taken from a supply closet near the showers. The charges carry potential 10-year prison terms.
They could face additional charges, a jail spokesman said.
“These seven defendants planned a calculated, premeditated attack on correctional officers at that facility,” prosecutor Elizabeth Satelmajer told Judge Dunbar Livingston during yesterday’s arraignment.
It was around 12:25 a.m. when the seven inmates — Eddy Lopez, also known as Miguel Torres, 30; Miguel Diaz, 21; and Raul Carraquillo Llanos, 35, all of Lawrence; Angel Andrades, 28, of Lynn; Alexis Maldonado, 29, of Haverhill; Jurrell Laronal, 21, of Dorchester; and Juan Rivera, 24, of Boston — were being led, one by one, from the administrative segregation unit to the showers.
Paul Fleming, a jail spokesman, said the inmates in that unit are typically confined to their cells 23 hours a day, and when they are out of their cells, they are under heavy security.
Slid under showers
The men were told to sit on a bench outside the shower stalls, where they were unshackled and told to undress.
They were then locked into individual shower stalls. Several of them began sliding underneath a 2- to 3-foot gap underneath the shower doors and were able to grab the shackles and swing them at the guards, Fleming said.
Two of the guards received head wounds, and one of them had to have the wound stapled closed, Satelmajer said. A third guard was cut on the jaw.
As the officers radioed for help — which began arriving within 30 seconds, Fleming said — the inmates began throwing things at the officers, including a telephone ripped from a console, a computer and a book cart. Two inmates got hold of brooms and a plunger and began swinging them at the officers, Fleming said.
It took about four minutes to get all of the inmates back under control, Fleming said. He said the response time and the time it took to subdue the seven inmates was worthy of praise.
In the aftermath, guards began a cell-by-cell search of the unit, looking for potential weapons or other evidence. During that process, one guard suffered a sprained wrist and another was bitten by a dog that was being used in the search, Fleming said.
Fleming declined to release the names of the injured guards, citing concern for their safety.
The unit, which is often referred to by inmates as “the hole,” houses high-profile inmates or those who require special protection or have major disciplinary problems.
Lopez was being held at the jail while he awaits trial next month in the 2003 murder of a man named Gilberto Martinez in Lawrence. He is also serving a 35-year federal prison term for drug offenses.
Maldonado is awaiting trial on charges of assaulting a guard and a fellow inmate last summer. In August 2006, he allegedly attacked another inmate with a hot pot, shattering the man’s eye socket, then kicked a guard who was responding to the situation. He has also served time for violent crimes in the past.
Andrades is serving a two-year term for witness intimidation.
Diaz is awaiting trial on armed assault and firearms charges out of Lawrence. Carraquillo Llanos is also awaiting trial on assault and drug charges. Laronal is serving a two-year sentence imposed in Suffolk County for firearms charges.
Rivera is awaiting trial on armed robbery charges from Bristol County and also has pending charges in Lynn.
Bail for Lopez and Carraquillo Llanos was set at $250,000 each. Bail for Laronal, Rivera, Diaz and Andrades was set at $100,000 cash each, and Maldonado’s bail was set at $75,000.
Their lawyers did not argue over bail yesterday but asked for the chance to argue at a future court hearing.
A probable-cause hearing was scheduled for July 25
Posted by: kwflatbed
F them hose them down with a fire hose.
Posted by: Niteowl
Did anybody happen to catch the new on the idiot box the same night these a$$holes were arraigned. The kind sheriff of that facility took a news crew into the facility and showed the cameras what a cell was like so people could see what a horrible time Paris Hilton was crying about.
Great job sheriff, next time why don't you line up your staff and spit in their faces.
Posted by: PearlOnyx
Someone had mentioned the security of the showers in that housing unit, so I thought I'd address that. Basically, they are a metal bathroom stall you'd see in a public restroom, with a shower in it. There is a swing door in the front that is locked while they are in there. There is a two foot gap under the door that anyone that is not over 300 lbs. could easily crawl under. From experience, this is not the first time that an inmate has done that. Problems occur and people get hurt, both in corrections and in law enforcement when bad policy and bad security is identified, and they are not addressed early. Problems occur when you trust inmates not to do bad things. These are inmates who are disciplinary problems. You can not trust them to do anything. The cat is out of the bag, so unless this security issue is adressed, sadly something like this will happen again.
Posted by: crazy irish
What does the "high" Sheriff Frank Cousins know about security? He has no law enforcment, corrections or legal back ground.
The day after this happened he gave an interview to John Keller fron CBS4 in boston about Paris Hilton. Not a word about how a half dozen of his officers where injured in this RIOT. He has lowered staffing, lowered the amount of training they get, and there is absolutly no dicipline in that place anymore. Thanks to Frank Cousins the inmates are running the asylum and this last incident along with many others proves just that. He's just as bad as the scumbags who did this
Posted by: BB-59
That is the fun part of being a corrections officer, (not guard), you get to be locked in blocks with between 50 - 100 inmates, usually by yourself, and if you are assaulted you have a 30/70 chance of the courts telling you "that is part of your job, toughen up."
And now, because of funding, most county facilities only give new staff 2 - 3 weeks of training and throw them to the wolves. If anyone out there cares to wonder why the suicide rate and turnover rate is so hi in corrections, keep these items in mind.
Posted by: PearlOnyx
There is a culture of acceptance of violence against correctional officers in Massachusetts as well. This case is a rarity in that the inmates are being prosecuted for Battery on a Correctional Officer. Most cases are never turned over to the District Attorney from internal investigators, and those that are turned over are often dropped. Being assaulted is seen as a right of passage.
Posted by: crazy irish
Now it seems that the "high" Sheriff's crack security investgations unit may have gotten word about this planned atack but did nothing about it.
Pearl is right. Managment could care less about those injured. I believe the quote from the Supt. is " if you dont like it Macdonalds is hiring". It's only been a few days but the next thing to happen is they will review the tapes and start diciplining the guys who where there instead of fixing the problem. Like asking the sheriff to resign!
Oh well, what did we expect? the "high" sheriff has no law enforcment or corrections experiance, and the Superintendent? Well he was made a LT the day after he got out of the academy. Spent very little time doing the dirty work of corrections. Ahh yes.... One of the most disfuntional ass backwards Sheriff's Dept. in the State.
Posted by: Barbrady
Hey, the cons lost canteen privileges for a month. Don't ya think thats punishment enough? They should get the plunger.
Posted by: Niteowl
The President of the ECCOA submitted a letter to the editor of the Salem News. http://www.eccoa.org/
Posted by: BB-59
That was a great newspaper article but do you think the public cares?
Do you think they keep track of where the money goes or where it is spent?
Sheriffs in general answer to know one dircetly. Their budgets are behind the wall, meaning nobody sees them so nobody cares.
Officers are treated with the attitude "you don't like it quit". More than likely if you go to this sheriffs department you will see a sign, " dogs and cos stay off the grass".
Posted by: PearlOnyx
Corrections is an old forgotten world that the public does not care about. When you see "bad guys" getting led away from court to jail or prison, the public forgets they exist. They forget about the facilities that they are going to, and the people that work in them. While well intended, articles in the news paper do very little, because the public does not care.
Posted by: Deputydog522
plain scumbags!!!!!! Waste of tax payer money!!!!
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