Atwater federal prison inmate assaulted

An inmate at U.S. Penitentiary Atwater was hospitalized Wednesday after he was apparently assaulted by at least one other inmate, a prison official confirmed.

Kristi Rodriguez, the prison’s public information officer, said the inmate was assaulted around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday and taken out of the prison to an area hospital for treatment, where he remained Thursday.

Rodriguez declined to release any further information, including the inmate’s age or name, or where he has been hospitalized. Rodriguez said prison officials are taking “routine security precautions” to ensure the safety of the inmate and the public, but declined to elaborate.

She also declined to say exactly where in the prison the assault took place or whether any weapons were involved.

“It’s been turned over to the FBI to investigate,” Rodriguez said.

No correctional officers were injured during the incident.

Two USP Atwater correctional officers were assaulted Aug. 15. Injuries to both officers, whose names were not released, were described as serious, but not life-threatening. The name of the inmate allegedly involved in the attack has never been released.

It remains unclear whether any criminal charges have ever been filed in the case. Rodriguez said she did know the status of the investigation.

She said both injured correctional officers have since returned to work.

The Aug. 15 incident triggered separate controversial lockdown orders, according to Donald Martin, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1242, the union representing the 325 correctional officers working in Atwater.

The prison was placed on lockdown after the Aug. 15 assault, but Warden Paul Copenhaver lifted the security measure the following morning. The union then contacted Charles E. Samuels Jr., director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., and formally complained. Samuels issued a new lockdown order, overriding Copenhaver, Martin said in August.

Prison authorities declined to comment on the separate lockdown orders.

Correctional Officer Jose Rivera, 22, was stabbed to death at the prison by inmates in June 2008.

James Ninete Leon Guerrero, 48, of Guam, pleaded guilty earlier this year in connection with Rivera’s death and received a life prison sentence. Co-defendant Joseph Sablan, 46, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and is scheduled to go to trial next year, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

About 1,430 male inmates are housed at USP Atwater, Rodriguez said.

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Atwater federal prison inmate assaulted."