Corrections officer stabbed during escape attempt

[mrags]

Thoughts and prayers to a fellow officer.

 

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20130702/NEWS05/130702007/Inmate-stabs-corrections-officer-neck-during-escape-attempt-officer-survives?nclick_check=1

[mead107]

What prison you at?

[mrags]

What prison you at?

Attica

[Chef Jim]

Tough work.

 

I grew up about three miles from Attica. The height of our summer was when there was and escape. They'd set up a roadblock in front of our house and we'd sit on the front porch and watch. They actually caught a guy once. Someone picked him up hitchhiking.

[BuffaloBill]

Guess he lost his chance at parole and nearly took the life of a hard working officer at the same time.

[DC Tom]

Attica

 

 

 

I bet that never gets old for you, does it?

[Chef Jim]

 

 

I bet that never gets old for you, does it?

 

Well I didn't look at it but I think I know what it was. I assume you were being sarcatic but for me it got old real quick. I remember too vividly the Attica riot. Seeing the police and emergency vehicles going by our school. Having our teacher come in and say it was a riot at the prison. Having my best friend sitting next to me telling me he hoped it wasn't in his brother in law's cell block. Then later learning that his BIL was the first guard killed. Seeing the ambulances go by our house one evening towards Attica and the stream of them a few hours later coming back all full. As a 10 year old I'll never forget the sight of those ambulances going by our house, one after the other.

 

I actually recently found out my dad was helping feed the negotiators. He said he was scared shitless when he was led in to the prison to bring doughnuts to the negotiating table.

[BuffaloBill]

 

 

Well I didn't look at it but I think I know what it was. I assume you were being sarcatic but for me it got old real quick. I remember too vividly the Attica riot. Seeing the police and emergency vehicles going by our school. Having our teacher come in and say it was a riot at the prison. Having my best friend sitting next to me telling me he hoped it wasn't in his brother in law's cell block. Then later learning that his BIL was the first guard killed. Seeing the ambulances go by our house one evening towards Attica and the stream of them a few hours later coming back all full. As a 10 year old I'll never forget the sight of those ambulances going by our house, one after the other.

 

I actually recently found out my dad was helping feed the negotiators. He said he was scared shitless when he was led in to the prison to bring doughnuts to the negotiating table.

 

Interesting. You don't think about people involved in these situations in a support role. These situations happen at all serious events but go completely unnoticed. Your Dad had no way to know exactly what he was getting into.

 

 

[boyst]

Prisoners are scary son'o'bitches. They have nothing to lose and will quickly show you that. Convicts are dangerous but not like inmates - lets hope he recovers.

[Chef Jim]

Interesting. You don't think about people involved in these situations in a support role. These situations happen at all serious events but go completely unnoticed. Your Dad had no way to know exactly what he was getting into.

 

I always thought he was in the prison parking lot cooking for the media and others. Just this past year (40 plus years later) he told me "no, I was inside the walls." I grew up with many kids whose fathers/uncles worked there and many more guards that we cooked for in my dad's restaurant in Attica that were working there then. I've heard many stories about what went on those days. It was ugly.

[mead107]

Had a friend that worked at coxsackie prison and was on the emergcy response team. He ended up getting hurt in a riot response and was not able to go back to work.

[mrags]

Tough work.

 

I grew up about three miles from Attica. The height of our summer was when there was and escape. They'd set up a roadblock in front of our house and we'd sit on the front porch and watch. They actually caught a guy once. Someone picked him up hitchhiking.

depending on the year of that "escape" it could have just been a drill. To this day however, only one man has ever successfully escaped Attica.

 

In 1971, just a few weeks before the Attica riots, Joe Sullivan escaped from Attica Prison.

 

Joe Sullivan. Who believe it or not, now resides in Sullivan Correctional Facility In Sullivan NY. The first prison I worked in. I knew Sully fairly well, most officers did. Lieutenants would come to the block just to get the real story about how he really escaped Attica. He'd always tell him to read his book. Claiming he built a ladder and went over the wall. But Attica has debunked that myth.

 

But I've had conversations with him that would make a grown mans butt tighten up.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2010-2011/thedevilyouknow/joemaddogsullivan.html

 

Had a friend that worked at coxsackie prison and was on the emergcy response team. He ended up getting hurt in a riot response and was not able to go back to work.

1988?

 

My Sgt at the academy was there for that riot. Believe he was in the Coxsackie CERT team at the time.

[mrags]

 

 

Well I didn't look at it but I think I know what it was. I assume you were being sarcatic but for me it got old real quick. I remember too vividly the Attica riot. Seeing the police and emergency vehicles going by our school. Having our teacher come in and say it was a riot at the prison. Having my best friend sitting next to me telling me he hoped it wasn't in his brother in law's cell block. Then later learning that his BIL was the first guard killed. Seeing the ambulances go by our house one evening towards Attica and the stream of them a few hours later coming back all full. As a 10 year old I'll never forget the sight of those ambulances going by our house, one after the other.

 

I actually recently found out my dad was helping feed the negotiators. He said he was scared shitless when he was led in to the prison to bring doughnuts to the negotiating table.

your story about your father is crazy. Glad things went well for your family during that time. Unfortunately not the same for everyone else involved.

 

As of right now, there is one officer left at the jail that was there during the riots. Every other officer has since retired from 1971 except for him.

[Chef Jim]

depending on the year of that "escape" it could have just been a drill. To this day however, only one man has ever successfully escaped Attica.

 

In 1971, just a few weeks before the Attica riots, Joe Sullivan escaped from Attica Prison.

 

Joe Sullivan. Who believe it or not, now resides in Sullivan Correctional Facility In Sullivan NY. The first prison I worked in. I knew Sully fairly well, most officers did. Lieutenants would come to the block just to get the real story about how he really escaped Attica. He'd always tell him to read his book. Claiming he built a ladder and went over the wall. But Attica has debunked that myth.

 

But I've had conversations with him that would make a grown mans butt tighten up.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/fi...ogsullivan.html

 

1988?

 

My Sgt at the academy was there for that riot. Believe he was in the Coxsackie CERT team at the time.

 

There is escape from the prison walls and walking off the farm. They had the "trustees" working the farm and those were the ones that escaped on a regular basis. It was no drill. A guy that worked at the motorcycle shop next door chase him down and tackle him. Guy ended up becoming a county sheriff.

[mrags]

Prisoners are scary son'o'bitches. They have nothing to lose and will quickly show you that. Convicts are dangerous but not like inmates - lets hope he recovers.

this---^

 

You've really got to be on point in a place like Attica. I've worked in other Max Prisons and in shock camps but Attica is insane. Somewhere you really have to be on point at all times. More so than anywhere else I've been. Don't turn your back or trust anyone for even a second. Or you could end up picking your face up off the floor after they take a razor blade to it.

 

Something I hope I don't ever have to experience but in the 90s the Bloods went in a recruiting spree as they looked for more bodies to fight the crips. Their gang initiation in the jail was to assault an officer. There was constant running every day and night at the time. Multiple assaults a day. Not a good feeling.

 

 

 

There is escape from the prison walls and walking off the farm. They had the "trustees" working the farm and those were the ones that escaped on a regular basis. It was no drill. A guy that worked at the motorcycle shop next door chase him down and tackle him. Guy ended up becoming a county sheriff.

ah, the farm workers. This was before Wyoming Prison was built?

 

Now they are the farm workers. I've had to take recycling and slop over to Wyoming before. Mediums are run so much differently.

 

At Sullivan CF we had an Annex where the inmates would walk off the farm and head into town on a regular basis. Until they came back one time wasted and hooking up with the teenage Jewish girls.

[DC Tom]

this---^

 

You've really got to be on point in a place like Attica. I've worked in other Max Prisons and in shock camps but Attica is insane. Somewhere you really have to be on point at all times. More so than anywhere else I've been. Don't turn your back or trust anyone for even a second. Or you could end up picking your face up off the floor after they take a razor blade to it.

 

Something I hope I don't ever have to experience but in the 90s the Bloods went in a recruiting spree as they looked for more bodies to fight the crips. Their gang initiation in the jail was to assault an officer. There was constant running every day and night at the time. Multiple assaults a day. Not a good feeling.

 

Serious question...explain to me how that happens. 'Cause everything I know about the inside of a prison is from TV and movies...which I know means I know precisely nothing. How is prison routine actually organized so that the inmates have that much opportunity (and what's the ratio of guards/prisoners at Attica? I don't even know that much.)

[Chef Jim]

this---^

 

You've really got to be on point in a place like Attica. I've worked in other Max Prisons and in shock camps but Attica is insane. Somewhere you really have to be on point at all times. More so than anywhere else I've been. Don't turn your back or trust anyone for even a second. Or you could end up picking your face up off the floor after they take a razor blade to it.

 

Something I hope I don't ever have to experience but in the 90s the Bloods went in a recruiting spree as they looked for more bodies to fight the crips. Their gang initiation in the jail was to assault an officer. There was constant running every day and night at the time. Multiple assaults a day. Not a good feeling.

 

ah, the farm workers. This was before Wyoming Prison was built?

 

Now they are the farm workers. I've had to take recycling and slop over to Wyoming before. Mediums are run so much differently.

 

At Sullivan CF we had an Annex where the inmates would walk off the farm and head into town on a regular basis. Until they came back one time wasted and hooking up with the teenage Jewish girls.

 

This was way before the medium security prison was built. The 60's and 70's. I seem to remember with Sullivan escaped. We were all pretty freaked out.

[Gugny]

There was just an incident at Great Meadow where an inmate picked a CO at random and stabbed him multiple times, all in an effort to be killed (suicide by CO).

 

The CO, miraculously, will be okay. The inmate is still alive and will lead an even more miserable life now.

[mrags]

 

 

Serious question...explain to me how that happens. 'Cause everything I know about the inside of a prison is from TV and movies...which I know means I know precisely nothing. How is prison routine actually organized so that the inmates have that much opportunity (and what's the ratio of guards/prisoners at Attica? I don't even know that much.)

prisoners have mucho the rights and opportunities than most people think. It's not daily beatings everyday like you see in the movies. Inmates in this state have more freedoms than the officers in many cases. For instance, many inmates receive an innocent until proven guilty type of action, where as the officers it's the exact opposite.

 

But to answer to answer your question, of your an Medium security inmate or a Max Jail Annex inmate, you most likely have outside clearance. Working on a farm outside of the prison. Work crews, like shoveling, mowing, salting roads and grass areas.

 

I've been on work crews where I've picked up inmates at a medium jail, to drive them over to the max jail (usually sharing property but a mile or so away) to work on landscaping. One of he inmates hops on a tractor and drives it down the road on his own. That kind of stuff happens all the time.

 

These guys have to be cleared for outside clearance. Usually that means they are not in prison for harsher crimes. But that doesn't exactly make them choir boys.

 

When I was at Willard, my platoon leader (ran my dorm) was the best parole I had in the class. He flipped out one day. Couldn't handle it anymore. He's now in "The Box" at Attica. Threw his food at me the other day. When he was my platoon leader, he was the best one of the group. Now he's a POS inmate that spots on officers, throws food on officers, smears his walls with s%^t and god knows what just to be a problem to officers.

 

This is why I say, don't trust anyone.

Edited July 3, 2013 by mrags

[NDBUFFCUSEFAN]

I would rather do another 13 months in Iraq than be a CO for 1 month, my hat is off to you men and women.