2 Updates: From Indiegogo.com "Nathan’s has undergone two surgeries, since his attack at the hands of a prison inmate with a sharp homemade metal object. One surgery repaired torn tissue in his neck and the other to repair damage on his throat and to install a trach to help him breath. Miraculously no major arteries were struck, his spinal column was only grazed by the blow and there was a just a slight tear to his esophagus. He was awake and alert this afternoon, knowing everyone and communicating with us all, as best he could with a breathing tube! He even smiled! He has full feelings/functioning of his legs and arms! His greatest need for prayer is that no infections would develop, so lets continue to fervently pray on his behalf. Also FYI, no visitors are allowed at this time." "Dr’s say Nate is doing well. He actually stood-up and sat in the chair for a bit. He is experiencing a bit more pain because they needed to cut back on on his pain meds today to balance his system which is keeping him from getting some much needed sleep. His lungs also need to clear some more mucus and blood from the wound which is aggrevating his asthma a bit. He is showing no signs of any infection, so please continue to pray this would be so and that he would get some relief from pain so he can sleep and rest."
Bikers raise funds for corrections officer stabbed by inmate Dozens of motorcyclists turn out Sunday in Leominster to help raise money for a correctional officer that was stabbed by a prisoner. Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/local/cent...ate/-/11983998/15364850/-/imygxs/-/index.html
Updates: From Indiegogo.com From Nicole, Nathan's wife: “I’ve always believed in miracles and the healing power of prayer. As I watched my husband suffer so much over the past few days, I prayed and prayed that God would give him a speedy recovery. I begged God to please make his suffering stop, because I couldn’t bare to watch it anymore. And yet, I was amazed and speechless when I watched a miracle happen before my eyes. The first three days in ICU were the longest days of my life. I had to watch Nate gag and choke as his lungs were drained, and watch him fight fevers, and see him hooked up to wires, and machines, and tubes. There were days I couldn’t let him fall asleep, because when he fell asleep, he stopped breathing. There were days when he coughed until his lungs screamed and nights when the minutes dragged on for hours. There were nights in which I told God, “I don’t think we can do this. I don’t think that I can do this.” And yet God gave me the strength every single day to make it through. And yet, despite our fears, God answered our prayers. As slow and painful as the progress seemed to us at the time, Nate’s healing had actually sped up in ways the doctors are calling unexplainable. He was supposed to have the trach tube in his throat for at least 4 more days, but it was taken out this morning. He was supposed to have a swallow test in five days to determine if he would be able to swallow normally. This morning, he ate scrambled eggs for breakfast… and swallowed them just fine. The real miracle for me was when he, while sitting up for the first time since the incident, held out his arm so that I could lean into it for a hug. My mind raced to that first day in the ICU waiting room, when I cried inside at the thought of him never holding me again. But here he was, with his arm around my shoulder in a small, chilly ICU room."“It was probably the most romantic, amazing moment of my life. Granted, there is still a difficult road ahead of him, as he regains his strength and abilities. But the doctors cannot explain why he has gotten better so fast. They say it’s amazing. I say it’s God. Nate and I truly believe that God had his hand over Nate this entire time, protecting him from the moment he was stabbed. Honestly, he could have died. I’m not sure if you all know, but after Nate was stabbed, he stood up and tried to protect a female CO from being beaten. If that con had hit Nate in the neck once more and dislodged the knife, Nate would have died or been paralyzed. I was THAT close to losing him. Nate and I, every day, thank God for sparing him and for bringing him through these rough times. Even if it might not be over yet and the recovering continues, we truly know that God will continue to hold him in His hands. I also thank all of you who have helped me and Nate get through this. You have all played such a huge role in helping us keep our strength and courage. From the nurse who found me crying in a corner of the ICU waiting room and reached out to hold me in her arms, to the CO’s who collected money to make sure we’d be okay financially, to the friends who texted and emailed their support. I am truly humbled by all that you have done and feel that ‘thank you’ is too small to express how much I feel. From the bottom of my heart, I THANK YOU for reaching out to me and my husband to help carry us through this. I truly pray that God will bless you in the way that you have blessed us. And we are grateful to you forever! From Nicole, Nathan's wife: “Nate is home! He’s still not sleeping much, because of the hole in his throat left by the trache tube, and is still getting rid of a nasty cough. He’s also dealing with a bit of numbness, pain in his neck where he was stabbed, and weakness. But still, after all he’s been through, it’s amazing that he can slowly walk around the house, eat a bit of the cooking I’ve prepped for dinner, and even get a bit of talking out before his throat gets too hoarse! Again, thank you for all of those prayers!!”
I'm glad to hear he's improving and pray for a full recovery. That said, known gang members should not be afforded the privilege of open tier time, they're always plotting. Being a CO is tough enough with out having to put up with shitbags who wear these assaults like a badge. I'll bet if we had a system like the one in Russia, these sucks wouldn't last a day.
Thank God he is going to be ok..i can't imagine what his wife has been going through, dealing with seeing her husband injured so badly. Thank you for the update..i pray he heals quickly
This was as brutal of an attack as any I've ever heard about in my 25-yr career yet it doesn't appear that way in the new reports. It was only due to Nate's toughness, strong will to survive and God's will that he is alive today. Thank God Nate is recovering and any positive news is truly refreshing to hear . Walking a tier is one of the toughest jobs in the criminal justice field and also one of the least appreciated. Nate and his family need all of our prayers and support during his tough recovery, so let's do all we can to support his cause and show why our chosen profession is the finest in the world. God speed brother!!!
Michele McPhee EXCLUSIVE – BY MICHELE MCPHEE This is the shank that an inmate drove through the neck of a correction officer at MCI-Shirley late last month. The weapon was pulled out during a melee that sent seven correction officers to the hospital – including Nathan Beauvais, 28, who went into surgery at UMass Medical Center in Worcester with the shank plunged just millimeters away from his spinal cord. “...Continue Reading
Big Irish, Souza has become a shit show! Mental health is running the camp and administration is more than willing to let them. If you're an Officer that is strict and don't take shit from cons, you'll find yourself either assigned to the Perimeter, or the P-trap. The cons know this. Whenever they want an Officer out of a unit they know all they have to do is write up a bunch of bullshit grievances and administration will remove the Officer. No questions asked. This is how absurd it has gotten.
Brian Jansen in his interview on June 26th with Michele never mentioned a reason why we do not wear protective equipment. He spun it and talked about the departments plan on how they deal with these inmates. A random CO stated that we do not wear protective equipment because it “intimidates the cons" which may be true or untrue. I love that Michele has been covering this, and am looking forward to more, but I wanted to clarify what she has been "Quoting"
I think we're "on board" with the whole "Management doesn't give two shits about the safety of guys/gals doing the actual work" idea.
WTF? This is seriously screwed up. No one should give a rats ass if the prisoners are "intimidated" by safety equipment or uniforms or anything at the prison. They're in prison for a reason and if they don't like it there; then, that's just too frickin' bad. Anyone who thinks that our tax money should go to making the inmates feel good about being in prison instead of hiring and equipping more guards and keeping them safe needs to be locked in with those animals with nothing more than the tools they expect those who work with the animals to use.
Officer recovering from knife attack ‘As a wife, it scares me. I want him to be safe’ By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF Before her husband was stabbed in the neck with a prison-made knife, Nicole M. Beauvais, 29, said she had no idea how tight the brotherhood was among correction officers. The knife came within half a centimeter of Correction Officer Nathan R. Beauvais’ spinal cord, Mrs. Beauvais said, and if the handle had not come off when the inmate who drove it into his neck tried to pull it out, he would have died. Mr. Beauvais, 28, was stabbed from behind June 25 while doing his rounds at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. The day before, he had conducted a search for contraband in the same inmate’s cell and confiscated a homemade coffee maker, she said, because inmates are not allowed to have boiling water. The brawl that followed involved six other correction officers, she said, including a female officer who was pulled to the floor by her hair and was punched repeatedly. The prison is still under lockdown following the melee, she said. Paul Jarvey, spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., said the incident is still under investigation and no charges have been filed. “The prisoner jumped him,” Mrs. Beauvais said in the couple’s home yesterday. She said she is speaking for her husband because he does not want to say anything that may interfere with the investigation. “When he fell, the prisoner who stabbed him went to pull the knife back out and the handle came off,” Mrs. Beauvais said. “That saved his life. The prisoner kept punching him with the handle until he was pulled off.” Her husband went through hours of surgery at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester to have the shank removed from his neck, she said. “When I went into the ICU, I had to sign a paper,” she explained. The knife was still protruding from her husband’s neck. “Their initial thoughts were that he would be a quadriplegic when they tried to take out the shank. I told him, ‘No matter what, I’ll always love you.’ ” The surgeon was able to pull out the shank smoothly and stop it from damaging his spinal cord, despite it being only millimeters away from it, she said. During the first night in the ICU, correction officers stood by and helped comfort her, she said. “That first night in the ICU, I already had COs coming to visit me, saying they’d do anything we needed done,” she said, including to help pay the couple’s mortgage, hold fundraisers and even mow their front lawn. “They came together to support us. They definitely have each other’s backs. It is very eye-opening how supportive they are — it is like a brotherhood.” She said in the weeks of recovery that have followed, their Christian faith, family and other correction officers have helped them get through. Mrs. Beauvais is the one who tends to her husband’s care while on leave from her accounts receivable job at Simplex Grinnell in Westminster. The feeding tube, which she keeps clean, still has not been removed, and her husband still has severe numbness in his left leg, she said, but otherwise is recovering more quickly than his doctors anticipated. “He is having an MRI next week,” she said. “We’re hoping (the numbness) is not permanent. They’re unsure what is causing it.” Still, she said they are not angry over the horrific ordeal. She said they are just happy he is alive and doing as well as he is. After three years of marriage, she said, the couple wants children and they are rethinking Mr. Beauvais’ career choice. This is the second time her husband has been assaulted at work, she said. Last year, he ended up with two black eyes and a broken nose, she said. “As a wife, it scares me,” she said. “I want him to be safe. He loves politics and reading. He’s very smart. He said he would like to help prevent kids from ending up in prison in the first place, to help make an impact on children’s lives.” Whether he continues in the same field or not, Mrs. Beauvais said, they would love to see the job made safer for all correction officers. The couple, she said, is meeting with Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray in the hope that he will help change policies within the prison system that will make correction officers’ jobs safer. “Tim Murray has visited us twice,” she said. “We want to talk to him about making it safer for others.” It's great to hear Officer Beauvais is recovering so well and it is great to see how his brother and sister officers are there for him and his family during their time in need!! God speed brother!!
