By Judi Villa, The Arizona Republic
A corrections officer at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis was attacked on Tuesday night by an inmate on the same unit where two inmates took over the tower for 15 days and held two officers hostage.
Officer Ryan Bloomingdale received 24 stitches after inmate Angel Lerma, 24, shoved him to the ground, then picked up his radio and threw it at the officer’s head, said Jim Robideau, a prison spokesman.
Bloomingdale was doing a security check when Lerma asked to come out of his cell to empty trash, Robideau said.
Lerma, who is serving 31Z2 years for burglary, was transferred to the Special Management Unit in Florence.
The hostage standoff ended Feb. 1 and raised concerns about staffing levels, training and security procedures at the state’s second-largest prison. The Lewis prison was built in 1998 and employs a large number of inexperienced staff.
“All of us in the field know that we work in a rough-and-tumble business,” Corrections Director Dora Schriro said. “We are resolved that the population not get the better of us.”