LAWRENCE CO.—A correctional officer working at Lawrence Correctional Center (LCC) in Sumner was reported to have been beaten with a broomstick wielded by an inmate February 21.
The correctional officer, whose name has still not been confirmed, was said to have observed an inmate get off the phone with his girlfriend and appeared to be agitated.
At that point the inmate found a broom from the cleaning cart that other inmates were using to clean the showers with and took the broom.
The inmate proceeded to chase the officer in question, and in response, the officer ran because, according to DOC regulations, correctional officers are not allowed to harm the inmates (in terms of fighting back, etc.) or they will likely get fired, charged or both.
The officer ran down a stairwell and when he thought he had gotten away from the inmate, the inmate found the officer and started after him again.
The chase continued until the officer got to the wing door (which is an electronic door at the end of a cell wing), but the other correctional officers did not get the door open fast enough and at that point the officer was trapped between the door and the inmate. The inmate at that point began to strike the officer with the stick end of the broom.
The officer was taken to Lawrence County Memorial Hospital at approximately 7 p.m. and was said to have sustained injuries to his forearms, hands, knees and may have had severe damage in one thumb.
He was released over three hours later at 12:30 a.m. The officer who was beaten with the broom was said to have only been working at the facility for four or five months.
Reports of inmates attacking/assaulting correctional officers have increased in number since the closure of the maximum security prison in Tamms in deep southwestern Illinois. Whether the actual attacks/assaults have increased in number, or whether DOC officials are increasing the reporting in an effort to influence Governor Pat Quinn to stop the closures, is one of those unknown variables in the closed-off entity that is Illinois DOC.
Whatever the case, the CO at LCC is said to be very fortunate that he wasn’t more seriously injured than he was, as other attacks in recent months have been labeled “severe.”
LCC has an operational capacity of 2,445 and is a medium security adult male facility.