Seven Minnesota prison guards hurt this week in separate incidents

MINNEAPOLIS — Seven corrections officers suffered injuries in separate incidents at two Minnesota prisons this week.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said in a statement Wednesday that a sergeant and two officers were assaulted at the Stillwater prison late Monday morning while trying to break up a fight among several inmates. All three staff members were evaluated at a hospital and released.

Then on Tuesday evening, a sergeant and two officers at the Oak Park Heights facility were hurt after two inmates allegedly attacked them. The corrections department said the Oak Park Heights guards also received hospital evaluations, and one required treatment for “more serious injuries” before being released.

On Thursday morning, another sergeant was struck in the face by an inmate at the Stillwater prison, the Corrections Department said, adding the guard was taken to the hospital for treatment.

“We will take every appropriate action to stop these senseless acts of violence against our staff,” Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said in a statement Thursday following the third incident.

“Sadly, even though it is a small number of inmates who engage in these acts of violence, these incidents also affect the far greater majority of incarcerated people who are committed to rehabilitation and transformation,” he added.

The DOC said results of an internal investigation will be forwarded to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for consideration of felony charges.

The state has struggled to attract and retain corrections officers, AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Julie Bleyhl said in an interview Wednesday. She said adequate staffing levels are key to ensuring safety.

“Members that go to work should expect that when they go in in the morning, that they're able to come home to their families and their loved ones in the same shape that they went into work, not be in the situation that the officers with the two assaults have found themselves in,” Bleyhl said.

The inmates allegedly involved are being held in the restricted housing unit in Oak Park Heights.

On July 18, 2018, an inmate assaulted and killed corrections officer Joseph Gomm, 45, in Stillwater’s metal shop. Gomm was the first guard killed in the line of duty in the state prison system's history.

Edward Muhammad Johnson, 46, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in 2020 to premeditated murder.

Two months after the attack on Gomm, corrections officer Joseph Parise collapsed and later died after rushing to help a fellow officer who was being assaulted.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner determined that Parise, 37, died from coronary artery syndrome and heart disease and ruled his death a homicide.