On Monday, a Rikers Island inmate attacked two correctional officers separately, leaving them with severe injuries to their faces and hands, The Post has learned.
The first attack, which occurred around 1 p.m. inside the George R. Vierno Center, injured a police officer while trying to break up an apparent gang war between about 10 inmates, and sent layers of law enforcement from a cell. leaked to. Officials told the Post.
Officials said the inmates ignored requests from officers to stop the scuffle, even after officers fired pepper spray.
Instead, they grabbed food plates and garbage cans and started hitting each other. The officer was then hit with a flying food plate lid, causing a severe cut on his left hand.
“We were trying to prevent a fight between multiple inmates,” a police officer told The Post on Monday. “Many other objects were thrown and one of them hit my hand and cut it off.”
Sources said a response team moved in minutes later and separated the prisoners and took them away.
The 22-year-old police officer, who has only been on the job for nine months, said the cut required four stitches.
“I think I did my best in that situation,” he said, adding that he tries not to get hung up on the offense. “I was just trying to do my job…I didn’t really take it to heart because I felt like it could happen to anyone.”
In the second incident, which occurred at the Robert N. Davoren Complex around 6:15 p.m., a female corrections officer was punched in the face despite pepper spraying her assailant, sources said. .
“I gave him a direct order: Stop!” the 45-year-old police officer told the Post. “Verbal commands didn’t work…and I sprayed him directly in the face, but the spray had no effect and he hit me with his fist, knocking me out.”
“I lost consciousness for a few seconds and then was taken to the clinic,” she continued.
Other officers burst in and sprayed the alleged attacker, Timil Bey-Foster, and several other inmates with more OC spray before restraining them, sources said.
Bay Foster, an alleged gang member, is being held on suspicion of murder stemming from a shooting that left a 26-year-old man dead in Queens on New Year’s Eve 2020.
The seven-year veteran said she suffered several fractures to her face and sinuses, as well as a cut under her eye.
“I feel terrible,” the officer said. “What’s with my face being dirty? Because I did my job? I don’t want this on any police officer…We’re going to do our best.”
Her attack mirrors a similar attack in mid-March in which an inmate punched an officer who directed him back to his cell, officials told the Post.
The attack caused the officer to fall and sustain a cut to his lip.
The newspaper contacted the city’s Department of Corrections.
The officer who was attacked Monday said he believes separating the most violent inmates from the rest of the housing units will help solve cases of inmate assaults on correctional officers. The number of inmate attacks on correctional officers has reached 150 since Dec. 20, 2023, union officials said.
Since that day, authorities say there have been 59 incidents of cutting, 36 incidents of stabbings, 39 incidents of spitting, 110 incidents of liquid splashing and five incidents of sexual assault. 108 inmates were seriously injured.
Officials believe the situation will worsen when the city takes effect in June, banning solitary confinement as punishment for the most violent offenders.
Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the controversial bill three months ago, saying it would make prisons more dangerous for inmates and staff alike.
But the City Council ignored his concerns and overrode his veto.
In June 2019, the city completely banned people from traveling alone, including a 23-hour lockdown.
Instead, prisoners had to be allowed to leave their cells. at least 4 hours each dayaccording to the New York City Commission of Corrections website.
Under the new law, guards will be able to isolate inmates who are at immediate risk of violence for no more than four hours.
Violent inmates can be kept in isolation for long periods of time, but they must be removed from their cells 14 hours a day and have access to the same programs as other inmates.
Rikers Island has a long history of problems with solitary confinement practices and came under intense scrutiny in 2015 after former inmate Kalief Browder, 22, hanged himself.
His death sparked a wave of reform efforts, and the city decided to stop using solitary housing facilities for juvenile inmates.
Still, union officials believe the city’s ban on 23-hour lockdowns has led to an increase in assaults on correctional officers, which will worsen under the new restrictions.
“These inmates take action because they know we are vastly outnumbered and the impact of unprovoked assaults will be minimized,” union president Benny Bossio said in a statement. “He has the courage to assault staff members with impunity.”
“Not only should these assaulting inmates be charged with consecutive sentences, but the City Council must immediately repeal this reckless bill to protect the lives of everyone in our prisons.”
