A Philadelphia correctional officer was hospitalized Sunday afternoon after an inmate attacked him, authorities said.
Officer Moncy Joy, 51, was attempting to get an incarcerated man back into his cell following a recreation period, according to the city’s Department of Prisons. The man refused, assaulting Joy, authorities said.
The incident occurred at around 3 p.m. at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, part of the city’s sprawling jail complex on State Road in Northeast Philadelphia.
Police responded to the jail to provide assistance, and Joy, who suffered unspecified injuries and bleeding, was taken to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in stable condition. Prisons department spokesperson John Mitchell said Joy was awake and sitting up on the way to the medical center.
Authorities have not publicly identified the inmate, a 35-year-old man, and police said Monday that the incident remains under investigation.
David Robinson, president of AFSCME District Council 33 Local 159, which represents officers in city jails, said Joy was working alone to oversee a unit of the prison at the time of the attack.
“Luckily, that officer didn’t die that night, but you’re going to continue to get these assaults if we don’t come to grips with what’s really going on and try to find a way to keep everyone safe,” Robinson told Metro on Monday.
“Things could have been prevented,” he added. “That officer didn’t have to be working alone.”
Mitchell said the prisons department could not confirm whether Joy was by himself on duty.
Local 159 and groups advocating for the incarcerated population have been raising concerns about conditions inside the city’s jails since early in the coronavirus pandemic.
In May, days before two inmates cut a hole in a fence to escape the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, Robinson announced that his members had lodged a vote of no confidence in Prison Commissioner Blanche Carney.
A staffing crisis has precipitated unsafe conditions, sanitary issues and crumbling facilities, union officials said at the time. Mayor Jim Kenney has stood behind Carney.
The absence of the escapees – Ameen Hurst, 18, and Nasir Grant, 24 – went unnoticed for nearly an entire day. They were later captured separately within city limits.
Last month, in testimony before Council Council, Noah Barth, of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, said the organization has developed “a very clear picture of dysfunction, neglect, and abuse” from walkthroughs of city jails and interviews with incarcerated people.
“This is the result of not only a major staffing shortage but mismanagement, a dysfunctional organizational culture, and a needless overuse of incarceration,” he added.
Council member Isaiah Thomas in late June introduced legislation to create a new prison oversight board and office, which would have its funding tied to the prisons department budget. The move is aimed to strengthen accountability within the jails. If passed, voters would need to approve the measure through a ballot question.
