Somers, Conn./WTIC Radio - State correction officials say a correction officer was injured in an assault Monday at Osborn Correctional Institution Monday afternoon.
They say an inmate began choking and punching an officer in the face during a security check just before 3:30 p.m.
The AFSCME Council 4 union calls it an alleged "attempted sexual assault," in which the inmate attacked the officer from behind and dragging her into a so-called "camera dead-zone."
Other officers responded and subdued the assailant.
The officer was taken to an area hospital where she was treated and released.
The alleged assailant was transported to the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution’s Restrictive Housing Unit.
“Violence against Department of Correction staff is unacceptable,” said Commissioner Angel Quiros.
In addition to calling to secure additional cameras, staffing, and security enhancements, AFSCME Local 391 is demanding action, requesting cameras be added to areas where they are not located and restoring the two-officer patrol system, which the Union says was in place until a year-and-a-half ago in high-risk areas.
The Union commented further in a lengthier statement:
This assault is not an isolated incident. It is the predictable result of leadership ignoring the warning signs placed directly in front of them. For over a year, we have documented these hazards, pleaded for additional
staffing, and demanded security upgrades in precisely this area. These are not luxuries; our officers are asking for the basic tools required to go home to their families alive and uninjured at the end of their shift. Instead, the Department of Correction cuts corners, just to save a buck—and this is the consequence.
When the Commissioner and his executive team choose cost-cutting over safety, they make a deliberate decision to put the lives of correctional professionals at risk. That is not just poor leadership; it is a moral failure.
To make matters worse, it is only now that the Department has offered the very improvements that we had requested on numerous occasions, which they had previously refused to implement. This staff member was hurt because leadership refused to act. We will not mince words about that truth. These security improvements are coming too late, and we demand accountability!
The men and women who walk into these facilities every day deserve leadership that values their lives more than a budget line. We are done being dismissed. We are done allowing preventable injuries to be shrugged off. We are sick and tired of an administration that places a dollar value on our officers’ lives, in the form of budget cuts. And we will continue to demand bold, immediate reforms so no more of our members are carried out of these institutions in ambulances.”
State police are assisting correction officials in the investigation.