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Six Correction Officers Injured By Inmates at Two Different Jails on Same Day

What to Know

  • Six correction officers were attacked at two different jails on the same day, officials said
  • One attack at a Brooklyn jail left an officer concussed and bloodied, while the other attack on Rikers Island injured five officers
  • The president of the correction officer's union has called for the head of the Department of Correction's resignation

The head of the corrections officers' union called for the city Department of Corrections commissioner's resignation after officers at two different jails were attacked by inmates on Tuesday. 

An inmate punched a corrections officer in the face and kicked him while he was closing a gate at the Brooklyn Detention Complex Tuesday afternoon, the DOC said. 

In a separate incident at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island, an inmate punched an officer in the face and hurt four other officers who tried to intervene after the jail discovered he had contraband, according to the DOC. 

The inmates who attacked the officers were re-arrested and placed in restrictive housing, the DOC said. The department is investigating both incidents. 

The attack at the Brooklyn jail, which was caught on surveillance video, left the officer with a bloodied face and a concussion, according to Elias Husamudeen, the president of the NYC Correction Officer Benevolent Association said. 

At a press conference Wednesday, Husamudeen called for Department of Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann’s resignation.

“We think that she has proven over the last three years to be in over her head and have no idea of what it means or what it takes to run a New York City jail system,” he said.

“Based on the way the commissioner has been running the agency, she and the mayor of the city of New York have done nothing but put the lives of corrections officers at risk,” he added.

Less than a month ago, Husamudeen called for more protections for jail guards after a corrections officer was slashed in the face while trying to break up a fight on Rikers Island.

In a statement Wednesday, the DOC's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information said the department was "working with the Brooklyn and Bronx district attorneys to make sure that the next facilities these inmates visit are state prisons." 

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