Inmate indicted for assaulting two correctional officers in Atwater

A 36-year-old federal inmate was indicted Wednesday on charges of assaulting two correctional officers last year at Atwater Penitentiary.

Curtis Dickson faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted, for his alleged role in the assault of two officers Aug. 15, 2014, according to a copy of the indictment handed down Wednesday by a federal grand jury in U.S. District Court.

The officers both suffered numerous injuries as a result of the attack, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a prepared statement.

“Federal correctional officers put their lives and safety in jeopardy every day in the course of their duties,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said in the statement. “Inmates who engage in violent acts toward correctional officers will face prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”

Dickson, a Washington, D.C., native, already was serving a life sentence for a second-degree murder conviction, the Justice Department said.

News of the indictment came on the heels of a life-sentence conviction a day earlier of one of two men who pleaded guilty to killing an Atwater correctional officer in 2008. Joseph Cabrera Sablan and James Ninete Leon Guerrero avoided the death penalty, but will serve life in prison without any possibility of parole for the death of Officer Jose Rivera, the Justice Department reported.

Nearly 1,300 male inmates are housed at the U.S. Penitentiary at Atwater, according to the prison’s website.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Inmate indicted for assaulting two correctional officers in Atwater."