Nassau corrections officer assaulted at county jail, officials said
A Nassau County correction officer was allegedly assaulted by a prisoner Sunday and suffered a broken nose, jail officials said Monday.
The alleged assault occured inside the jail Sunday at about noon, when inmates were being brought outside for recreation time, officials said.
The inmate, who jail officials did not identify by name, "became agitaged" because he was prohibited from taking "certain items with him to the recreation yard," according to an emailed statement from Captain Michael Golio, a spokesman for the Nassau County Jail in East Meadow.
The inmate, according to Golio, "engaged in an unprovoked assault on an officer" who was "struck in the face and sustained a broken nose along with other facial injuries."
The correction officer was transported to a local hospital for treatment, Golio said.
Brian Sullivan, president of the Nassau County Correction Officers Benevolent Association, said the officer, a nine-year veteran, also has two black eyes that are swollen shut and a cut under one eye.
"He jumped on him and started punching him in his face," said Sullivan of the attack that officials said was stopped when other correction officers intervened. Sullivan said the inmate is a known Bloods gang member.
Sullivan said the assault shows the dangers faced by correction officers in the Nassau Jail, which as of this summer had about 580 prisoners.
"These are the kinds of people we deal with that 'the powers that be' want to release from jail and allow to roam around in public," Sullivan said.
Golio said the inmate has been in custody since December 2017 and is awaiting sentencing in a case that he did not specify. An attorney for the inmate could not be reached for comment.
"The investigation into this incident is ongoing at this time. The safety of Correction Officers and inmates is our paramount concern," Golio said.
Sullivan said he wants the inmate charged with second-degree assault -- and doesn't want the charge reduced, plea bargained or a penalty of jail time to be administered concurrently with another sentence.
"I want this guy to be immediately charged with assaulting an officer," said Sullivan. "We don't want any inmate to think it's a freebie to assault a correction officer because 'I'm already going to prison for some thing else.' A charge like this should be consecutive, not concurrent."
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
